João Carlos Martins / Bach
Vol. 8
The French Suites
French Overture
Labor Records is proud to announce the digital release of Overture in the French Style; The French Suites, the eighth installment of The Complete Keyboard Works of J.S. Bach, a collection comprising 15 volumes/19 CDs. This monumental edition features the celebrated Brazilian pianist João Carlos Martins, a legend among Bachophiles.
Martins agrees with his countryman Heitor Villa-Lobos, who said, “Bach is the universal source of folklore…his music comes from the sidereal infinite to penetrate the earth as folklore music.” Martins sees Bach’s music as erudite even while drawing from popular rhythmic and melodic sources. The idea of the baroque musical line, strongly articulated in a strict eighth-note movement, carries to him an underlying buoyancy equally comparable to Brazilian choros or to American jazz. Martins brings to his Baroque, essentially a dance-derived music, a sense of deeply personal expression.
REVIEWS
Pianist João Carlos Martins continues his complete survey of Bach’s keyboard works with some of the most elegant dance suites ever composed–significantly better, in most cases, than the work of the French composers who served as Bach’s models. The performance is witty, lyric and rhythmically vital as the music demands. And Martins is not afraid to play with a romantic flavor–when in feels right.
– The Washington Post
The partitas, French and English Suites, preludes and fugues, toccatas -they all glow under his touch, and he brings out their mystical quality.
– Tacoma News Tribune
…deeply communicative, musically sensitive and always interesting.
– American Record Guide
© 2010 Labor Records. All rights reserved.