BACH 333 – The New Complete Edition

Thus is a high end production of JS Bach. Any production by Deutsche Grammophone will never disappoint. This is a must have for any civilization for eternity. I thoroughly enjoy it and I strongly recommend it.

While some reviews have noted that they would prefer a different artist or chamber orchestra, I really don't see why. This has many times two different artists for the same works and I used it to listen to two different recordings of the 4th English Suite. It has both harpsichord and piano for all the keyboard works. It has a beautiful biography book, song list, each work has a description of it and its history. The books are high quality hardcover. Every Cantata has the words in both German and English to read (sadly, not in the music itself). This is for any collector of Bach and should be the only thing you need to buy in one set. Very expensive! And Very worth it!The only complaint I have is the DVD short biography. It contradicts the book biography. The book actually presents certain assumptions and refutes them while the video uses the assumptions. The DVD paints Bach as a psychiatrically disturbed individual who always blamed others if something did not go his way. It has Bach picking a sword fight with a Bassoonist and in his childhood years playing hooky from school to have fun at home. Never mind that he had a second job with his father and he was sick a lot of the time (as many children were in those days). Never mind that he drew a sword to defend himself from a probably drunk Bassoonist; Bach did not attempt to injure the man in any way. Never mind that he had a lot of children to support and was looking out for his own financial welfare in moving from town to town in search of better pay or that Weimar held bad memories with his recently deceased love of his life or that his patron was no longer interested in music after marrying a woman who disdained it. No, the DVD will have you believe he was a troubled grump who only thought of himself and was a narcissist (it says so). But, if you look past that odd presentation, the rest is amazing!

Yes, the price sent shock waves through my budget and I told myself I was nuts for buying it! I've been working my way through this set by throwing 6 dice to pick what's next - guess that proves the "nuts" part. Have not heard even a third of what's there (hoping I live long enough to hear it all) but every single disc has been a winner. Clearly the performers love their jobs and every great Baroque specialist is here pouring out their best. Lots of pieces have duplicate recordings (three St Matthew Passions?) but I'm finding that strong performers with individual styles can make the duplicated versions almost new pieces. The two Mass in b (es) were sensational Bruggen's "Cum Sancto Spiritu" left me with my jaw hanging open - and I know that piece inside out. One disc has 4 piano partitas: one with Pires, one with Argerich, one with Blechacz & one with Grosvenor - perfect performances but all so uniquely different! Won't mention the 5 versions of BWV 1043 concerto for two violins on one disc - it's an education on what performers can give to a beloved composer. Lots of wonderful new recordings from this centuryI haven't been this excited about a CD set in many years - and I did get the Mozart 225 box a couple of years ago. I know I'm lucky to be able to afford it (NOT!) and I am very, very happy I took the plunge.HOWEVER! The box is made of pretty study thick cardboard and would make a nice bomb shelter except for the floor of the box which holds the 223 CDs at 2 slants leading up to the center of the box - i.e., the spot that needs to be the strongest. That floor is made of pretty weak cardboard and has no support underneath. So the bottom has come unglued on one side and the CDs are listing madly to the right (and left) in that section. No way to take the box apart and fix it. The stupidest error in a set obviously put together with great scholarly care.

Bach is god, if god exists. The set is marvelous, outstanding, incommensurable and all the adjectives possible. Expensive? Sure, it is! But worth every single dollar spent.I will spend the rest of my life just drooling in front of this massive body of work. Just get a nice amplifier: Hegel 190, maybe. And/or a great headphone amplifier: McIntosh MH-200 and pair it with a Focal Clear MG. Now, you have gone to heaven and seen the light.Again, Bach is god, if god exists.

The wealth and quality of music here merits five stars on its own, no question. This is just a note about the discs themselves. I've been ripping them to an iPod classic, one at a time, so that I can listen to them with a set of Sennheiser HD598 headphones. A number of these discs exceed the 80-minute standard maximum capacity for a CD—some run as long as 86 minutes. So there is no guarantee that every CD player will always successfully read the last track or two on some of these discs. Sometimes I have to make two or three attempts to copy the final track—I've always managed it in the end, but it means that copying discs isn't a fire-and-forget situation. If your CD player has issues reading discs longer than 80 minutes, it's something to keep in mind.EDIT 2/18/22—I've run into a couple of these discs that I couldn't completely rip no matter what—no scratches; they're just too long. So, five stars with the understanding that whatever you use to read the CDs in the set must be able to read 80+-minute discs.

This is an absolutely fantastic collection!

un enorme bauletto pieno di cd (purtroppo tutti con delicatissime slide di cartoncino). Tutte le note lasciate da Bach. Con tutte le migliori registrazioni degli ultimi 40 anni e oltre. Davvero un piccolo patrimonio dell'umanità da tenere a casa.

Excelente: uma edição integral da obra de JS Bach, profusamente acompanhada de textos explicativos (3 livros e vários livrinhos sintetizando a informação sobre os 223 CD que integram a colecção. Inteligentemente arrumado por categorias musicais (música cantada, música instrumental) e vendido numa magnífica embalagem. O único aspecto negativo tem a ver com o DVD que integra a colecção: é falado é inglês e legendas disponíveis apenas em alemão e japonês! Faz falta uma legendagem em inglês, para quem não acompanha totalmente o inglês falado ou os deficientes auditivos, em francês, em espanhol e, já agora, em português. Um produto tão caro (cerca de 500 euros) merecia bem o esforço.

Me voila possesseur du coffret "Bach 333" n* 3990 (sur les 8500 exemplaires fabriqués par Decca) arrivé en parfait état livré avec l'emballage "Universal" comme vous pouvez le voir sur les photos.Vu le prix de ce coffret, c'est tout à fait dommage qu'Universal, DG et DECCA ne propose pas de telecharger, en version pdf, le contenu des 2 livrets richement illustrés.Maintenant que ce coffret est entré mes mains, il ne me reste plus qu'une seule chose : écouter toutes ces merveilles "bachiennes

Some while ago someone posed a question: 'If you could either live in a world with all of Bach's music but nothing else or a world with everyone's music except Bach's, which would you choose?' It's a tough one but I'd be seriously tempted to choose the 'only Bach' option.If I did, this would be the vindication of my decision. It's beautifully presented, wonderfully curated, and the 222 CDs represent a range of interpretation in a plethora of wonderful recordings. For instance, the St Matthew Passion - surely one of the pinnacles of human achievement - is represented by Karl Richter's lush 1958 recording (thought by many to be better than his 1981 version, of which I am very fond), as well as John Eliot Gardiner's period instrument recording with the Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists and Paul McCreesh with a 'one to a part' version which sometimes feels a bit rushed and undramatic to me (surprising for McCreesh) and sometimes amazingly full and vital despite the small forces. And, if that wasn't enough, some excerpts from earlier recordings by Fritz Lehmann, Hermann Scherchen and Willem Mengelberg. We don't really know how Bach performed it and we certainly don't know how he would have liked to have performed it but in this box set is a wide range of possibilities.Not every work gets such comprehensive treatment, of course, but there is plenty of variety here. For instance, most of the keyboard work is available on both piano (with artists such as Schiff, Agerich, Hewitt and Perahia) and harpsichord (with Rousset, Gilbert and Hogwood) with even a bit of classic recordings from Myra Hess, George Malcolm and others. There is so much breadth of choice (I believe that DGG licensed works from about fifteen different labels) that this is undoubtedly a treasure trove which will not be exhausted any time soon.The books are very helpful and I look froward to reading the history; the 'music' book by Nicholas Kenyon is very much geared to the pieces and performances presented in this set. Works are, in general, arranged in BWV categories but within them are set in chronological order, giving a great opportunity to become familiar with the development of Bach's craft and genius.It will take me months, perhaps years, to get the measure of this vast collection but already I am satisfied that it was well worth the money.UpdateI have now had the chance to listen to most, if not all of the CDs in this set and I am still delighted. The breadth of exposition, the quality of presentation and the sheer delight in this great music will never pall.The biography and articles are good and point the way to further exploration if desired. And, in a rather nerdsih way, perhaps, I really like having the BWV catalogue, organised as it is by number, date of work and title of work - making cross-referencing easy. There is also a performer index included.If you like Bach and would like to know his music better, then buy it. I don't think you will regret it.