The Uncommon Bach

If you want to “organize” your audio library, here’s a wonderful way to start.

Talk about pulling out all the stops!

The Uncommon Bach is dts’ release of eighteen Bach organ classics, beautifully performed and richly recorded in dts high resolution audio. We can’t sit through the whole album at a sitting, not being real pipe organ fanatics, but we love to savor a couple of tracks at a time - and also find this disc to be a wonderful programming source when we’re testing audio equipment.

The Uncommon Bach features organists Joan Lippincott and George Ritchie recorded at the St. Alphonsus Church in Seattle, Washington. This dts 5.1 mix delivers a true-to-life concert experience you can enjoy in your la-z-boy recliner instead of a hard church pew.

According to the package, the disc also includes a never before heard transcription of the Concerto for Four Harpsichords, in this case converted for the organ by Joan Lippincott. We aren’t real Bach aficionados so can’t comment about it in the context of Bach overall, but it is a wonderful piece, beautifully recorded.

dts has done a really nice job with this mix. If you close your eyes, you can imagine you’re in the church, pipe organ up front and the gloriously rich tones reflecting off all the walls and the ceiling, enveloping you in a most satisfying way.

Once again, dts has chosen to release the disc only in its 24 bit high resolution dts format, which means you’ll need both a dts decoder (no big deal these days) hooked into your audio system via the digital output. Otherwise you’ll just hear noise.

But if you do that, you’ll be rewarded!

There’s also a decent liner booklet included in the package though, as with the other dts-only discs we’ve seen, there are no extras such as you often get with the DVD-Audio format. We don’t mind this; while we always like extras, they’re really gravy.

And here, there’s plenty of meat, especially if you’re a Bach and/or organ music fan.

1. Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 535a.
2. Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 535a.
3. Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027a.
4. Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027a.
5. Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027a.
6. Trio Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027a.
7. Toccata in D Major, BWV 912.
8. An Wasserflussen Babylon, BWV 653b.
9. Prelude, Largo and Fugue in C Major, BWV 545.
10. Prelude, Largo and Fugue in C Major, BWV 545.
11. Prelude, Largo and Fugue in C Major, BWV 545.
12. Three Chorale Preludes.
13. Three Chorale Preludes.
14. Three Chorale Preludes.
15. Fugue in D Major, BWV 532a.
16. Concerto in A Minor.
17. Concerto in A Minor.
18. Concerto in A Minor.
Genre: Classical Label: DTS Entertainment Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach Symphony: . Conductor: . 5.1 Producer: Robert Margouleff 5.1 Mixed by: tbd UPC: 692860106529

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