I decided to buy one of the complete Bach editions released during
the International Bach Year 2000.  Deciding on which one to buy has
been difficult, though.  I wonder if members of the list have any
recommendations based on listening to the sets.  Here are the three
editions I have been sampling.

(1)
Haenssler Classic, Complete Works of JSB on 160 CDs under the supervision
of Helmuth Rilling and the Bachakadamie.  Features the Bach-Collegium
Stuttgart, Gaechinger Kantorei, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Kay Johannsen,
Robert Hill, Ingeborg Danz, Thomas Quasthoff, Andreas Schimdt, Christoph
Pregardien, Trevor Pinnock, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, etc..

(2)
Teldec's Bach 2000, The Complete Bach Edition on 150 CDs (performances by:
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus musicus Wien, Wiener Saengerknaben, Arnold
Schoenberg Chor, Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman, Franz Brueggen, Christoph
Pregardien, Andreas Staier, etc.).

(3)
Brilliant Classics Bach Edition on 160 CDs.  This one is half as expensive
as the others, and was distributed originally in Holland by a drugstore
chain at rock-bottom discount prices.  It is now available in Japan in 23
separate box sets, selling at about 350 yen per CD (US$2.90).  I'm not sure
about U.S.  or European availability.  Of the three complete sets this one
claims to be "by far the newest and most up-to-date."

Since this one seems to be the least known of the three sets, here is
the entire blurb copied from the web
(http://www.joanrecords.com/classical/bach/bach-index.html):

   The BACH EDITION of Brilliant Classics is one of the major contributions
   to the International Bach Year 2000.  The Bach Edition contains the
   complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach on 160 CD's, issued in 23
   separate box sets.  It is one of the three existing complete editions
   in the world, and it is the by far the newest and most up-to-date.

   More than 65% of the CD's issued in the series are newly recorded,
   especially for the Edition.  The new recordings follow scrupulously
   the newest developments and insights offered by the leading Early
   Music scholars as regards the performance practice of Baroque music
   in general and the music of Bach in particular. It offers a completely
   new recording of the 200 church cantatas, the first in digital sound
   (DDD), played on authentic instruments and sung by a boys choir, as
   Bach used in his time.

   Next to the new recordings the series offers excellent recordings
   licensed for this purpose, drawn from reknowed high quality classical
   catalogues, such as Berlin Classics, Collins Classics, BIS, Vanguard
   Classics, ASV.

   Artists include The Sixteen Choir & Orchestra (Harry Christophers),
   The King's College Choir Cambridge (Stephen Cleobury), Neues Bachisches
   Collegium Musicum Leipzig, and soloists like Emmy Kirkby, Michael
   Chance, Arleen Auger, Lucia Popp, Edith Mathis, Peter Schreier, Jakob
   Lindberg (Lute), Trevor Pinnock, Bob van Asperen (harpsichord), to
   name a few.  Booklets offer full texts of the texts of vocal music,
   plus linernotes on the music and its background, in the English
   language.

I have listened to the samplers for all three editions, and would frankly
like to have all three, but that gets very pricey. All three seem to observe
the latest historical performance standards and most of the performances use
historical instruments. And they all have star-studded casts, with the Dutch
edition featuring more or less the youngest generation of performers and
soloists, but the other two have some of the biggest names in Baroque
performance circles

What to do? Any thoughts from you cognoscenti out there?

Bill Boletta