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The Alternative Bach, with Mahan Esfahani

The Alternative Bach, with Mahan Esfahani: Traveller

Traveller

BBC Radio 3 - The Alternative Bach, with Mahan Esfahani, Traveller

Mahan Esfahani picks recordings that challenge conventional wisdom about Bach’s music.

Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani picks recordings that challenge conventional wisdom about Bach’s music.

The music of J.S. Bach is a music of infinite possibility. Yet for decades, many critics and audiences have been obsessed by the idea that ‘correct’ and ‘authentic’ performances of his work exist.

In this 3-part series, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani challenges mainstream ideas of what's 'right' or 'wrong' in how Bach's music is performed. In each episode, Mahan will share a selection of his favourite recordings, many of which fall outside of what might be deemed acceptable by today's standards, but which he believes can broaden our appreciation of what Bach can be - ‘to renew our appreciation for his indestructible adaptability’.

In this first episode we hear how Bach’s music has taken on different meanings as it has travelled between different cultures. Mahan’s own itinerant life - born in Iran, raised in the United States and more recently living in the UK and continental Europe - has heightened his awareness of cultural differences within Western classical music and brought him into close contact with different approaches to Bach along the way. 

Recordings this week come from Russia, central Europe and the States, as well as a rare 1930s recording of a cantata translated into Catalan. 

Produced by Chris Elcombe.
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3.


Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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Mahan Esfahani challenges what's 'right' or 'wrong' in how JS Bach's music is performed.

In this three-part series, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani challenges mainstream ideas of what's 'right' or 'wrong' in how JS Bach's music is performed.

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