J.S. Bach: Inventions and Sinfonias (Complete) – János Sebestyén, Naxos (Piano CD)

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Product Details

• UPC: 4891030506794
• Catalogue Number: 8.550679
• Brand/Label: Naxos
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Performer: János Sebestyén, piano
• Release Year: 1993 (recorded 6–9 July 1992)
• Genre: Classical – Piano/Baroque
• Country of Producing: [confirm] (partially obscured by a sticker on the back cover in the provided photos)

Product Features

• Format: Audio CD, DDD (fully digital recording), Stereo
• Total playing time: 57:31
• Complete cycle: all 15 Inventions, all 15 Sinfonias, plus fragments from Anna Magdalena's Notebook
• Cover artwork: Weimar (Archiv für Kunst und Geschichte)

Overview

Bach wrote the Inventions and Sinfonias explicitly as teaching pieces, and that pedagogical intent shows in how deliberately they're structured — the Inventions build two-voice counterpoint skills, the Sinfonias add a third voice and correspondingly greater complexity. Heard as a complete cycle rather than as isolated exam pieces, they read less like exercises and more like a compact, methodical tour through everything Bach could do with just two or three independent lines. János Sebestyén plays them with unfussy clarity, letting the counterpoint's internal logic do the work rather than adding interpretive weight these miniatures don't need. The disc rounds out with fragments from Anna Magdalena's Notebook, the collection of teaching pieces Bach compiled for his second wife and family, giving a fuller picture of Bach's domestic pedagogical world alongside the more famous cycle. Recorded at Budapest's Unitarian Church, this is a genuinely useful reference recording for anyone studying, teaching, or simply wanting the complete set in one clean, well-played volume.

Interesting Facts

• The Inventions and Sinfonias were explicitly composed as teaching pieces for Bach's own students, progressing from two-voice to three-voice counterpoint.
• Anna Magdalena's Notebook, excerpted here, was a collection of keyboard pieces Bach assembled for his second wife and their children's musical education.
• This recording presents the complete cycle of all 15 Inventions and all 15 Sinfonias in one volume, rather than a selection.
• Despite their teaching-piece origins, the Sinfonias in particular are now considered some of Bach's most refined miniature contrapuntal writing.
• János Sebestyén was a prominent Hungarian keyboardist known for extensive Bach recordings across both piano and harpsichord repertoire.

Track Listing

Inventions Nos. 1–15, BWV 772–786 – 20:15 (Tracks 1–15)

Sinfonias Nos. 1–15, BWV 787–801 – 26:41 (Tracks 16–30)

Fragments of Anna Magdalena's Notebook – 10:35 (Tracks 31–38)

Publishers

Naxos, part of the Naxos Music Group, recorded at the Unitarian Church, Budapest (producer Ibolya Tóth, engineer János Bohus, music notes Keith Anderson). Distributed by MVD Music and Video Distribution GmbH, Unterhaching/Munich, Germany.

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