This album contains 5 of Johann Sebastian Bach\'s most famous and versatile pieces for saxophone quintet, all very well suited for the beginners who want to get to know the baroque repertoire. They are also suitable for performances at events such as: weddings, Christian and church ceremonies, Easter, and academic recitals or concerts. They can be used in music institutions and by teachers as repertoire material and study methods, either for performance or instrumental technique. This collection includes a totally free bonus for you to enjoy: Martin Luther\'s A Mighty Fortress is Our God, a Renaissance sacred song for choir, which has been adapted for this set. You can also buy each one individually by checking right at the end of each description of each work.

1: Air on the G String - The original piece is part of Johann Sebastian Bach\'s Suite No. 3 for orchestra, in D Major, BWV 1068, written for Prince Leopold of Anhalt. The so-called \"Air on the G String\" dates from one of these latter employments. In the service of the Prince of Cöthen, Bach composed not only the famous Brandenburg Concertos, but also several orchestral suites, from the third of which comes the \"Air on the G String\". This curious title derives from a later arrangement of this piece for violin solo, in which the melody is played entirely on the lower, higher string of the instrument. ID: S0.1189781

2: Arioso - The Cantata 156 (BWV 156) was written for the third Sunday after Epiphany in 1729, and was first performed on January 23 of that year. The text is by Picander, one of Bach\'s favorite librettists. Of the four cantatas written by Bach for the feast, it was the last and only one scored for solo voice. This is a choral cantata, employing a choral melody in several movements. Cantata 156, in fact, employs two different choral melodies and texts in the second and sixth movements. A cantata is a sung symphony consisting of several parts, one of which is the Arioso, which is the initial instrumental part. ID: S0.1189985

3: Jesu, joy of man\'s desiring - This is one of Bach\'s most beautiful cantatas, made famous by the Jesus the Joy of Men chorus. It was originally composed for Advent 1716 in Weimar. Years later, already in Leipzig, Advent was tempus clausum, there was no music in the churches. Bach then reworked it for the Feast of Mary\'s Visitation. It is the final chorale of the cantata \"Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben\". Although it is the 32nd cantata composed by Bach, of those that have survived, it was given BWV 147 in the complete catalog of his works. ID: S0.1190041

4: O Jesulein süss, o Jesulein mild - The Jesulein süß, the Jesulein mild is an original traditional German choral melody for voice and continuous bass arranged by Johann Sebastian Bach around 1735. With lyrics by Valentin Thilo, O Jesulein süss is a sacred melody adapted and catalogued as BWV 493. The first translation is by Dirk van Hogendorp, who made it more of a song for the time of suffering. ID: S0.1190181

5: Minuet in G major - This famous piece has traditionally been attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, as it appears in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena , a notebook that Bach gave to his wife Anna Magdalena in 1725 and which was to be filled with the favorite selections of Bach family members. However, recent research has concluded that this minuet, sometimes referred to as BWV Anhang 114. was probably composed by Christian Petzold, a German composer and organist contemporary with Bach. ID: S0.1190377

Bonuses: A Mighty Fortress is Our God, by Martin Luther - Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott is a hymn written by Martin Luther probably before 1529. The melody was also considered his work for a long time, but it was created at least with the collaboration of Johann Walter. The song is of great symbolic power for Protestantism.

?Inspire Infinite Potential? is the first original composition of Stanley P. Hung. It was composed for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Concert Band 70th Anniversary in 2019. MIT Concert Band was founded by students in fall of 1948 and directed for 51 years by conductor John D. Corley. He directed the band from its inception in 1948 until his retirement last spring in 1999. Dr. Thomas E. Reynolds continued the job of music education at MITCB up to now about 20 years. He is the current music director and conducting the band together with co-conductor Collin Myers. (Reference: band.mit.edu)

Mr. Hung had participated in a few public performances of MIT Concert Band and played trombone. His footprints not only appeared at MIT in Cambridge, but also in New York (2013), Maine (2014), and Philadelphia (2019) during spring tours. ?To come up with an idea by our originality then take it into practice? was the spirit inspired by such ingenuity group. Therefore, Stanley tried to add this spirit into the music work ?Inspire Infinite Potential? at creation stage. Its U.S. premiere was conducted by Dr. Reynolds and performed by the MIT Concert Band in campus (2019.12.10). The second edition is mostly based on the previous version. Some of notes, chords, articulations, and rhythms have been updated.