>>>-- His highest note is in Contrapunctus 13 of the Art of Fugue
 >(1745-50) where there is an e'''. (I seem to remember another one
 >somewhere... was it in the Concerto in E major?)
There's one in BWV 936, bar 46. Which probably is enough to make it 
dubious...<<


Along with those two places (Praeludium 936, and Cp 13 solo, and Cp 13's 
arrangement for 2 players), there is the exceedingly rare e''' in the 
slow movement of the triple concerto (BWV 1044)...and an f''' next to it.

I don't remember anything else as high as e''' in any of the other 
concertos.

Speaking of 1044: has anybody else written out or improvised a fresh 
left-hand part to the cadenza on the last page, where it's otherwise 
just sitting there forever on a dead pedal-point?  I worked up some bits 
of countermelody and rhythmic riffs here and there, both to keep the 
pedal point sounding (in higher octave) and to drive up the energy level 
yet more during the cadenza, and to play up the implied harmonic 
changes...but maybe I'm just weird?  It seems a shame to have merely the 
right hand playing the cadenza while the left hand is uselessly holding 
a decayed note.  So, I made it like a creatively accompanied recitative. 
  Nobody from the audience or orchestra came up to whack me across the 
knuckles with a ruler, afterwards, and I wasn't struck down by lightning 
that day.


Brad Lehman