The virtually limitless well of music by J.S. Bach has always had a prominent place on radio airwaves in Boston. Whether it’s an iconic work like the Toccata and Fugue in D minor or a rarely heard but emotionally riveting church cantata, Bach’s music is a touchstone, returning listeners to a foundation on which so much subsequent music has been built.
Hear The Bach Hour each Sunday at 6am on 99.5 WCRB, as well as Mondays, midnight-2am. And listen on demand for two weeks after broadcast.
Resources consulted for production of The Bach Hour include many sites, books, and other media, but in particular, the following:
- program booklets of featured recordings, including those written by John Eliot Gardiner
- Emmanuel Music and Pamela Dellal
- The Cantatas of J.S. Bach, by Alfred Dürr
- Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician and Bach's Musical Universe, by Christoph Wolff
- Bach Cantatas Website
To hear Ryan Turner conduct Bach's Mass in B minor on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025, visit Emmanuel Music.
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On The Bach Hour, the Artistic Director of one of Boston's cornerstone music ensembles offers a guided tour of the composer's most elaborate and ambitious choral work. -
On The Bach Hour, Ton Koopman leads Amsterdam Baroque in music that reflects the complexity of belief through one of the composer's most brilliant works, written for Easter. -
On The Bach Hour, John Eliot Gardiner leads the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in the composer's Cantata 182, and Pieter Wispelwey performs the Suite No. 5 for solo cello. -
On The Bach Hour, the Los Angeles-based violinist performs both parts - each on a different Stradivarius instrument - of one of the composer’s most dramatic concertos. -
On The Bach Hour, organist Balint Karosi joins host Brian McCreath with rich context for his performance of the composer's magisterial collection called Clavierübung, Part III. -
On The Bach Hour, Eric Milnes leads Montreal Baroque in music that looks to the future with hope, and Klaus and Rainer Feldmann bring Bach's keyboard music into the realm of guitar duo. -
The mandolin virtuoso talks with host Brian McCreath about the rich musical environment of his childhood, what led him to the mandolin, and the role Bach's music plays in his artistic life. -
On The Bach Hour, Bach Collegium Japan performs the composer's "Trauerode," written to mourn the passing of a royal princess who embodied the values and hopes of her time. -
On The Bach Hour, the Principal Oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic explores the expressive terrain of the composer's cantatas, transformed into a concerto. -
On The Bach Hour, John Eliot Gardiner conducts an artistically riveting work with roots in the cultural fears and biases of the composer's time and place.
