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
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On The Bach Hour, Philippe Herreweghe leads one of the composer's most exhilarating works, including its original music for the Christmas season. -
On The Bach Hour, one of the composer's crowning masterpieces is channeled through the intimate resonance of the harp, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Cantata No. 61, for Advent.
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On The Bach Hour, Masaaki Suzuki leads music of excitement and meditation for the season, and the Academy for Ancient Music Berlin performs the Orchestral Suite No. 2.
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On The Bach Hour, Masaaki Suzuki leads music rooted in a warm and inviting divine presence, and Seiji Ozawa conducts the Boston Symphony in an extroverted orchestration of the "St. Anne" Prelude and Fugue.
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On The Bach Hour, the composer's music for an ancient instrument is filtered through a modern sonic prism by guitarist Stephan Schmidt, and Christophe Coin leads the Cantata No. 115.
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In a conversation with host Brian McCreath on The Bach Hour, Hahn describes the endless creative possibilities in the composer's music for solo violin and plays the Sonata No. 2.
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Ton Koopman conducts music that reflects both the inspiration and defiance of the composer's community, and Jeffrey Thomas leads the American Bach Soloists in the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, all on The Bach Hour.
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On The Bach Hour, Kristian Bezuidenhout is the harpsichordist in one of the masterpieces of the instrument, recorded in concert at the Boston Early Music Festival.
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The British pianist infuses Bach's Partita No. 4 with rhythmic verve and nuance, and Ton Koopman conducts the Cantata No. 96, on The Bach Hour.
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On The Bach Hour, Petra Müllejans and Gottfried von der Goltz are the soloists in the composer's irresistible Concerto for Two Violins, and Ton Koopman conducts the Cantata No. 47.
