Johann Sebastian Bach: Sämtliche Klavierwerke III – Partiten II
12.50€
- EAN Code: 7.93588412395
- Format: 1 Cd
- Genre: Instrumental
- Instrumentation: Piano
- Period: Baroque
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Description
FROM ALBUM NOTES BY MARCO BECCARI:
Partita was originally the name for a single-instrumental piece of music (16th and 17th centuries), but Johann Kuhnau and his successor Johann Sebastian Bach used it for collections of musical pieces, as a synonym for dance suite. In fact, the choice of the word Partita as a title for the suites of the first volume of the Clavierübung echoes J. Kuhnau (his predecessor at St. Thomas in Leipzig), whose Neue Clavierübung had consisted of seven Partiten, a use of the word that was to become current in Germany, although originally in Italian it seems to have been used to describe sets of variations, as in Bach’s own organ chorale variations or Partite.
During the course of his life Bach, one of the leading keyboard virtuoso of his time, published four volumes of keyboard pieces under the title of Clavierübung (Keyboard Practice), in apparent acknowledgement of the work of his predecessor as Thomas-Kantor in Leipzig, Johann Kuhnau, whose two sets of Clavierübungen had appeared in 1689 and 1692, each containing seven suites. Bach’s partitas can be seen as his homage to his predecessor, not by nostalgic means but by new compositional challenge. This is evident in the stylistic contents of Bach’s sets as if his intention was to update Kuhnau’s original contributions. Just as the names of forms were not fixed in the Baroque era, Bach was not bound by fixed structures either. Kuhnau followed a standard plan of Praeludium, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue, whereas none of Bach’s partitas are the same; he omits certain dances, substitutes others, and presents them in orders that please him. Kuhnau’s suites were grouped into one set in major keys and the second in minor keys, and Bach’s set includes three major and three minor, although they are not presented in any particular order of keys. Bach wrote two sets of partitas for different instruments such as the three partitas for solo violin in 1720. Each partita represented a different degree of the diatonic scale. Bach chose to do the same thing, picking up where Kuhnau left off, at B flat. He then made six of the seven partitas necessary to make up all seven degrees of the scale.
Composer(s)
Johann Sebastian Bach: (b Eisenach, 21 March 1685, d Leipzig; 28 July 1750). Composer and organist. The most important member of the family, his genius combined outstanding performing musicianship with supreme creative powers in which forceful and original inventiveness, technical mastery and intellectual control are perfectly balanced. While it was in the former capacity, as a keyboard virtuoso, that in his lifetime he acquired an almost legendary fame, it is the latter virtues and accomplishments, as a composer, that by the end of the 18th century earned him a unique historical position. His musical language was distinctive and extraordinarily varied, drawing together and surmounting the techniques, the styles and the general achievements of his own and earlier generations and leading on to new perspectives which later ages have received and understood in a great variety of ways.
The first authentic posthumous account of his life, with a summary catalogue of his works, was put together by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel and his pupil J.F. Agricola soon after his death and certainly before March 1751 (published as Nekrolog, 1754). J.N. Forkel planned a detailed Bach biography in the early 1770s and carefully collected first-hand information on Bach, chiefly from his two eldest sons; the book appeared in 1802, by when the Bach Revival had begun and various projected collected editions of Bach’s works were underway; it continues to serve, together with the 1754 obituary and the other 18th-century documents, as the foundation of Bach biography.
Artist(s)
Soraci, Pietro (Pianist) born in Catania, Italy, showed his extraordinary natural talent in playing the piano since he was three years old, gaining the interest of the national press and televisions. He performed first when he was eleven, with the Orchestra of Bellini Opera Theater. He graduated with the highest score, cum laude, and honored with a special award of appreciation. After experiencing different approaches to the piano music and techniques through the contact with some of the major teachers he was awarded of several prizes in national and international piano competitions and in particular he was recognized as the best Italian pianist by the international piano competition “Frederic Chopin” in Varsaw (Polen) in 1985. Currently, he performs all over Europe and Italy by the main Music Institutions and Concert Seasons both as soloist and in ensembles. Moreover he is full Professor for the major degree in piano music by the Conservatorio di Milano “G. Verdi”. Has recently undertaken (by Da Vinci classics) the complete opera recording of Bach keyboard on critical edition with Barenreiter patronage.