Bach, J.S.: Piano Concertos, Vol. 1

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)Piano (Clavier) Concerto No.1 in DMinor, BWV 1052 Piano (Clavier) Concerto No.2 in EMajor, BWV 1053 Piano (Clavier) Concerto No.3 in DMajor, BWV 1054 The career of Johann Sebastian Bach, the most illustrious of aprolific musical family, falls neatly into three unequal parts. Born in 1685 in Eisenach,from the age of ten Bach lived and studied music with his elder brother in Ohrdruf, afterthe death of both his parents. After a series of appointments as organist, he became, in1708, court organist and chamber musician to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, the elder ofthe two brothers who jointly ruled the duchy. In 1714 he was promoted to the position ofKonzertmeister to the Duke, but in 1717 left Weimar to become Court Kapellmeister toPrince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, a position he held until 1723. From then until his deathin 1750 he lived in Leipzig, where he was Thomaskantor, with responsibility for the musicof the five principal city churches, in 1729 assuming direction of the universityCollegium Musicum.At Weimar Bach had been principally employed as an organist,and his compositions of the period include a considerable amount written for theinstrument on which he was recognised as a virtuoso performer. At Cothen, where Pietisttraditions dominated the court, he had no church duties, and was responsible rather forcourt music. The period brought the composition of a number of instrumental works.The final 27 years of Bach's life brought a variety ofpreoccupations, and while his official employment necessitated the provision of churchmusic, he was able to provide music for the university Collegium Musicum and to write orre-arrange a number of important works for the keyboard.It seems almost too simple to suggest that Bach's concertosfall into three corresponding groups. Nevertheless at Weimar he arranged for soloharpsichord a number of concertos by Italian composers, as well as concertos by the youngprince Johann Ernst. At Cothen he wrote his violin concertos and the set he dedicated in1721 to the Margrave of Brandenburg. In Leipzig he arranged or composed a number ofconcertos for solo harpsichords, exploring a new form of concerto that was to assume thegreatest importance as the century progressed.The University collegium musicum in Leipzig met on Fridayevenings at Gottfried Zimmermann's coffee-house or in summer in his garden outside thecity. Bach took over direction of the group in 1729 and seems to have continued in thatposition until as late as 1744. Compositions for the collegium musicum, which involvedstudents and professional musicians, presumably include the Coffee Cantata, and thevarious concertos for one or more harpsichords, with strings.The Clavier Concerto in Dminor, BWV 1052, is believed to be based on an earlier violin concerto, asupposition supported by some of the figuration. Music from the concerto appeared in 1728as the introductory sinfonia to Cantata No.188, Ichhabe meine Zuversicht, and the first tw