Post by erik on Oct 7, 2023 20:07:09 GMT -5
Johann Sebastian Bach is once more in the Classical Works Spotlight for a transcription for modern piano of one of his many keyboard concertos originally composed for the harpsichord.
Bach: KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 6 IN F MAJOR, BWV 1057
When we speak of Johann Sebastian Bach having composed keyboard concertos, we either mean concertos for harpsichord or organ that he composed during the late 1730’s. Indeed, there happen to be seven concertos for one harpsichord; three concertos for two harpsichords; two concertos for three harpsichords; and a single concerto for four harpsichords. With the massive output involved (close to two thousand works), however, those concertos were to inevitably become lost in the shuffle for centuries as Bach was neglected for over a century, until Felix Mendelssohn’s championing of Bach with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra made the Baroque master somewhat fashionable again in the Romantic era. Bach, however, became ever more popular in the first third of the 20th century after many of his works for the organ got transcribed for large orchestra by various people, including Leopold Stokowski, followed a few decades later by the period-instrument movement. By the 1970’s, however, the keyboard concertos got transcribed from harpsichord to modern piano. The sixth of these concertos is a case in point, where, in the hands of someone like the Canadian-born Angela Hewitt, the piano, if louder in volume than the standard harpsichord of Bach’s day, can be made to sound delicate in its own way.
Piano: ANGELA HEWITT
Australian Chamber Orchestra/RICHARD TOGNETTI (Hyperion)
Included:
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 4 IN A MAJOR, BWV 1055
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 3 IN D MAJOR, BWV 1054
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 2 IN E MAJOR, BWV 1053
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 5 IN F MINOR, BWV 1056
Bach: KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 6 IN F MAJOR, BWV 1057
When we speak of Johann Sebastian Bach having composed keyboard concertos, we either mean concertos for harpsichord or organ that he composed during the late 1730’s. Indeed, there happen to be seven concertos for one harpsichord; three concertos for two harpsichords; two concertos for three harpsichords; and a single concerto for four harpsichords. With the massive output involved (close to two thousand works), however, those concertos were to inevitably become lost in the shuffle for centuries as Bach was neglected for over a century, until Felix Mendelssohn’s championing of Bach with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra made the Baroque master somewhat fashionable again in the Romantic era. Bach, however, became ever more popular in the first third of the 20th century after many of his works for the organ got transcribed for large orchestra by various people, including Leopold Stokowski, followed a few decades later by the period-instrument movement. By the 1970’s, however, the keyboard concertos got transcribed from harpsichord to modern piano. The sixth of these concertos is a case in point, where, in the hands of someone like the Canadian-born Angela Hewitt, the piano, if louder in volume than the standard harpsichord of Bach’s day, can be made to sound delicate in its own way.
Piano: ANGELA HEWITT
Australian Chamber Orchestra/RICHARD TOGNETTI (Hyperion)
Included:
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 4 IN A MAJOR, BWV 1055
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 3 IN D MAJOR, BWV 1054
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 2 IN E MAJOR, BWV 1053
KEYBOARD CONCERTO NO. 5 IN F MINOR, BWV 1056