Bach, J.S.: Concertos For Harpsichords, Recorders And Violins

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Cat No: 8553505

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099450522

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: BACH, J.S.

Description
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)Multiple Concerti Among the works of JohannSebastian Bach it is the concertos that present the most intractable problems.The first list of works published by Carl Philip Emanuel Bach and JohannFriedrich Agricola in the Necrology merely numbers various concertos for one,two, three and four harpsichords, adding "a quantity of other instrumentalworks of all kinds and for various instruments", presumably signifying allthe then available chamber and ensemble music of Bach. It is not known exactlywhy the ensemble music of Bach is so obviously neglected, while the clavier andorgan works are listed in detail. Perhaps it was that at Bach's death there wasso much available that more exact statements seemed too difficult. There is,however, the possibility that the second son of Bach certainly remembered verywell the manifold activity of his father as a composer and performer in thisfield, but found few traces of it in what he had left; the general listing ofensemble works was then the solution of a difficulty arising from thediscrepancy between his memory and the actual situation. It seems from thisthat at the time of Bach's death there were only actually in existence thefifteen concertos for harpsichord known today and the three concertos for oneor two violins. It must be borne in mind that Bachin his years as a chamber musician and later as concert-master to Duke WilhelmErnst and Duke Ernst August of Sachsen-Weimar from 1709 to 1717 and above allas Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen from 1717 until 1723directed competent ensembles and was responsible for their repertoire. It is,therefore, astonishing that hardly anything can be traced of this output, sincethe concertos known today, apart from the Brandenburg Concertos, belongmainly to his period in Leipzig, from 1723 to 1750. This mustnot be taken as an indication of Bach's own self-critical distancing of himselffrom his earlier compositions, but alternatively may show that he hadcontracted to leave behind at his departure the compositions he had writtenduring his service at Weimar and at Cothen (as is similarly documented forGottfried Heinrich Stolzel and Georg Eenda and was at the time not at allunusual). Nevertheless Bach must have taken with him to Leipzig copies, perhaps the ideas ofhis compositions, since about 1740 he made from this material a series ofharpsichord concertos, falling back, seemingly without exception, on earlierworks for solo instruments. The Concerto in F major, BWV 1057,for harpsichord and two recorders should be known to most music-lovers in itsoriginal version as the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto. Bach made his transcription about 1739/40, for aperformance of his Leipzig Collegiufu musicum. For this transcription he leftthe string parts largely untouched and kept the sound quality of the originalwith the two recorders. The solo violin part he transferred to the harpsichord,giving special attention to the transcriptio
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