Mahan Esfahani, Carolyn Sampson - Bach: Notebooks for Anna Magdalena

Domestic music-making of a distinctly superior sort is lovingly recreated in a rare recording of the notebooks Bach presented to his second wife.

The famous music book was gifted by Johann Sebastian Bach to his wife, who noted down pieces composed by Bach and others. Award-winning harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and renowned soprano Carolyn Sampson perform these works.

What an unfailingly delightful compilation it is, featuring keyboard galanteries, chorale melodies with or without voice and a wide variety of arias [�] few if any will be disappointed with an enchanting programme, affectionately and intimately performed. - BBC Music Magazine (Performance 4 STARS; Recording 4 STARS)

Mahan Esfahani and Carolyn Sampson are the perfect exponents of this repertoire with every item given a scrupulously faithful performance that never patronises any of the pieces, but treats each of them as though it were a miniature masterpiece, as indeed many of them are. [�] This is a recording to which listeners will wish to return repeatedly. � MusicWeb International