Did Bach really mean that?
Deceptive notation in baroque keyboard music
by Colin Booth

“The book is absolutely first class: Very learned yet imaginative and totally approachable. So much to learn from it, and so much to admire.

Congratulations. I have already recommended it to several keyboard players.”

Sir Roger Norrington
Special offer: £36.50 for a copy of the book with Colin Booth’s CD of Bach’s Goldberg Variations bought online

Bach: the ultimate master of Baroque keyboard music. Bach, who consciously strove to leave to posterity unsurpassed examples of keyboard music, in all the genres which the Baroque knew.

Bach and his Baroque contemporaries used the language of notation in a way often very different from the more highly developed notation used today. This can present problems to modern players of Bach’s music, but also may open surprising opportunities for flexibility, freedom, and the rewards of personal expression.

Did Bach Really Mean That? both elucidates many of those problems, and also reveals where those opportunities may be found, beneath the surface of the score. It is an entertaining and practical guide — not a dry work of scholarship. Scholarship is its basis, certainly, but the aim is to help those who play Baroque music, to a deeper understanding and enjoyment of the music itself, by entering the mindset of the composers who wrote it, and exploring systematically what their notation may really have meant.

Use the menu to browse through information about the book, and its author, Colin Booth, and to see the introductions for each of the chapters.

Early keyboard specialist Colin Booth is internationally known as a recitalist, continuo player and teacher