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Bach and Beyond album cover

Album guide

Bach and Beyond

Gabriela Montero

Composer
J.S. Bach
Released
2006
Label
EMI Classics
Forces
Piano
Personnel
Gabriela Montero

EMI suggested an album of Bach improvisations after hearing Montero turn audience suggestions into encores, and she recorded it at Abbey Road without pre-composing the results.

The journey takes Bach through imagined Chopin, Debussy, Satie, Albéniz and Latin-American voices while remaining improvised at the keyboard.

Hear both

The classical side contains only the source pieces used on the album, in album order. The jazz side presents the complete album whenever a dependable copy can be embedded.

The originalsJ.S. Bach · classical source works

The listening queues above follow the same order. The classical player omits tracks that are not based on a classical original.

Jazzed upGabriela Montero · 2006
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Source works

The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.

  1. Montero: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (After Bach’s Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147)Bach: ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’, BWV 147
  2. Montero: Presto (After Bach’s Italian Concerto, BWV 971)Bach: Italian Concerto, BWV 971: III. Presto
  3. Montero: Beyond BachOriginal composition by Gabriela Montero
  4. Montero: Air in G (After Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068)Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068: Air
  5. Montero: Aria (After Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988)Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria
  6. Bach: Adagio (After Violin Concerto No. 2, BWV 1042)Bach: Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042: II. Adagio
  7. Montero: Prelude in C (After Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier, Book 1, BWV 846)Bach: WTC Book I, Prelude in C major, BWV 846
  8. Montero: Sheep may safely graze (After Bach’s Hunt Cantata, BWV 208)Bach: ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’, BWV 208
  9. Montero: 2-Part Invention in D Minor (After Bach’s 2-Part Invention, BWV 775)Bach: Two-Part Invention in D minor, BWV 775
  10. Montero: Allegro (After Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048)Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048: I. Allegro
  11. Montero: Adagio (After Bach’s Keyboard Concerto, BWV 974)Bach: Concerto in D minor, BWV 974: II. Adagio
  12. Montero: Toccata in D Minor (After Bach’s Toccata, BWV 565)Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
  13. Montero: Rondo (after the “Rondeau” from Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No. 2”, BWV 1067):Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 1067: Rondeau
  14. Montero: Anna Magdalena Songbook (after the “Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 114” from “Notenbüchlein vor Anna Magdalena Bach”):Christian Petzold: Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114
  15. Montero: Chaconne (after the “Ciaccona” from Bach’s “Violin Partita No. 2”, BWV 1004):Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004: Chaconne