Florilegium - J.S. Bach: A Musical Offering - The Complete Instrumental Trio Sonatas (2000)

Florilegium’s latest release contains the complete instrumental trio sonatas of Bach. But if you discount the six-part Ricercar from the Musical Offering itself, which of course is not a trio, but which nonetheless is included here, only two of the remaining items are indisputably products of Bach’s pen. The Trio in G (BWV 1038) may be by Bach, who certainly provided its bass line; but the likelihood is that it was the work of one or other of his two elder sons or perhaps one of Bach’s Leipzig pupils. The Trio in C (BWV 1037), on the other hand, is certainly not by Bach, but by his gifted pupil, Goldberg. That leaves us with the Trio in G (BWV 1039), which dates from his Leipzig period and probably from the same time as the version for viola da gamba and harpsichord, and the great Trio from the Musical Offering which is far and away the most developed and impressive of the assembled trios. Happily it is this Trio which fares best in the hands of these sensitive players, for I felt on occasion elsewhere that the performances were a little inflexible and hard-driven. Nicholas Anderson