Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Benjamin Alard
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HMM90246062
Release: 2021
Size: 4.14 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Keyboard Concerto in G major (after Vivaldi), BWV973
01. I. [no indication]
02. II. Largo
03. III. Allegro
Keyboard Concerto in G minor (after Vivaldi), BWV975
04. I. [no indication]
05. II. Largo
06. III. Giga Presto
Keyboard Concerto in B minor (after Torelli), BWV 979
07. I. Allegro
08. II. Adagio
09. III. Allegro
10. IV. Andante
11. V. Adagio
12. VI. Allegro
Keyboard Concerto in D major (after Vivaldi), BWV972
13. I. [no indication]
14. II. Larghetto
15. III. Allegro
16. Fantasia & Fugue in A minor, BWV944
Keyboard Concerto in D minor (after Marcello), BWV974
17. I. [no indication]
18. II. Adagio
19. III. Presto
Prelude & Fugue in A minor, BWV894
20. I. Prelude
21. II. Fugue
Keyboard Concerto in G major (after Vivaldi), BWV980
22. I. [no indication]
23. II. Largo
24. III. Allegro
Organ Concerto in A minor (after Vivaldi), BWV593
25. I. [Allegro]
26. II. Adagio
27. III. Allegro
Keyboard Concerto in F major (after Vivaldi), BWV978
28. I. Allegro
29. II. Largo
30. III. Allegro
Organ Concerto in D minor (after Vivaldi), BWV596
31. I. [Allegro]
32. II. Grave
33. III. Fuga
34. IV. Largo e spiccato
35. V. [no indication]
Keyboard Concerto in C major (after Vivaldi), BWV976
36. I. [no indication]
37. II. Largo
38. III. Allegro
39. Prelude & Fugue in G minor, BWV535
Organ Concerto in G major (after Johann Ernst), BWV592
40. I. [Adagio]
41. II. Grave
42. III. Presto
43. Fantasie and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542 / 2 (excerpt): II. Fugue
Organ Concerto in C major (after Vivaldi), BWV594
44. I. [Allegro]
45. II. Recitativ. Adagio
46. III. Allegro
47. Chorale Prelude BWV694 ‘Wo soll ich fliehen hin’
48. Trio in D minor, BWV583
49. Chorale Prelude BWV736 ‘Valet will ich dir geben’
50. Trio super ‘Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr’, BWV664
51. Wir glauben all an einen Gott, BWV Anh. 69
52. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, BWV Anh. 65
53. Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele, BWV Anh. 52
54. Jesu, meine Freude, BWV Anh. II / 58
Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major, BWV564
55. I. Toccata
56. II. Adagio
57. III. Fugue
With Volume 4 of Benjamin Alard’s immense project to record all of Bach’s music for keyboard, we remain in Weimar. However, while Volume 3 focussed on Bach’s French influences, this one looks instead at Venetian influences, and in particular Bach’s transcriptions of Vivaldi concertos, whose orchestral sonorities he transferred into the keyboard medium with astonishing success.
This series has been especially striking for Alard’s decision to group works according to chronology rather than genre, and for the range of stunning instruments he’s on, meaning each programme represents an absolute cornucopia of different styles, textures and timbres. This latest addition is no exception to that rule. On the second disc, for instance, we have the exuberant Concerto in C major, BWV 976 transcribed from Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in E major, RV 265, followed by the dark polyphonic sobriety of Bach’s own Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV 535, both performed on a gloriously big-toned, bell-like, silver on high and fruity down below, pedal harpsichord copy after a 1720 Hamburg model.
Then he brings into play the flute-like tones of the original 1710 Silbermann organ in the Abbaye Saint-Étienne, Marmoutier, for a programme that prefaces various chorale preludes with his Organ Concerto in C major, BWV 594 based on Vivaldi’s “Grosso Mogul” Violin Concerto in D major, RV 208, and precedes them with his own Italian-influenced Toccata in C major, BWV 564. As for the first disc, this features the highly distinctive-sounding original 1702 Mattia de Gand harpsichord found in Treviso’s Museo Santa Caterina in Treviso, whose gently percussive-sounding upper registers sound especially ear-grabbing in the Largo of the Concerto in G major, BWV 980 transcribed from Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in B-flat major, RV 381.
Alard hasn’t just picked up the Bach transcriptions and played them, either. Instead, he’s compared them with the orchestral originals, then come up with his own ideas on how best to voice parts and create effects, and this has reaped further riches. Just listen to the magnificent, sparkling sound world he’s created for the Organ Concerto in A minor, BWV 593 – transcribed from Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins in A minor, Op. 3 No.8, RV 522 – thanks to the genius decision to play it not on organ at all, but on that aforementioned pedal harpsichord. Then to all the above you can add Alard’s clear, bright touch, and a properly Vivaldian energy (indeed, a bit like Vivaldi, it’s probably actually best enjoyed one disc at a time, so as not to end up feeling exhausted!).
Never did a review feel so much like an inadequate scratching of an album’s surface. To say there’s enough here to keep the inquisitive listener joyously entertained for a long time is something of an understatement.