Bach, J S: Prelude, Fugue & Allegro for Lute in E flat major, BWV998

As harpsichordist, conductor, and musical director of the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset is one of the finest interpreters of Baroque music. His first recording for Aparté, devoted to Louis Couperin, was received most enthusiastically by public and critics alike, and collected many distinctions in the international press including BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Choice.

Now at the peak of his maturity, the artist presents an original programme, Bach Fantasy, in which he treats us to little-known works but also standards by the great J.S. Bach. Apart from the important sets of works, including the Goldberg Variations, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the keyboard Suites and Partitas, many miscellaneous pieces by Bach have come down to us in the hand of his pupils and admirers: early essays, pieces of a didactic nature, evocations of emotions, and sometimes all of the above. Christophe Rousset plays these pieces on the 1632 Ruckers harpsichord of Neuchâtel, one of the finest in the world.

J.S.Bach was among the most prolific of the great composers. Naturally Bach offers a taste of the many different moods of Bach, including two concertos for oboe d’amore. These works were reconsctructed from scores thought to have been written for other instruments and contain some of the master’s best-known melodies. The Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E flat major for lute demonstrates Bach’s enormous range of musical architecture, and the sustained interest he devoted to the instrument. The extraordinarily beautiful aria for alto Erbarme dich, mein Gott from the St. Matthew Passion makes Naturally Bach an irresistible addition to any collection.

Martin Hegel’s original arrangements for guitar of some of Bach’s best known works are framed by two of the great composer’s most beautiful compositions for lute and allow the listener to experience the timeless nature of his music when performed on the concert guitar.

Smaro’s extensive research has revealed significant differences between the modern classical guitar and those of the Renaissance and Baroque periods – encompassing instrumental design and construction, string materials used, number of string courses, wide-ranging tuning schemes, etc. Such extensive variants make for a broad array of tonal qualities and colors as well as different technical and interpretive approaches.

Playing modern replicas of period instruments built by luthier Yorgos Kertsopoulos, Smaro performs transcriptions of well-known music by Bach, Handel and Scarlatti with exceptional skill and panache. Such “reinvented” guitars enable her to demonstrate many different tonal and interpretive possibilities of the period that – until now – have gone unheard. This release – as Classical Sentinel said of her first album – is certain to become “A fascinating CD for any classical music enthusiasts; a definite must-have for any serious classical guitar fans.”

Reference Track

Analytical presentation of all tunings; samples of program pieces performed on the standard classical guitar in nylon trebles and ordinary tuning

The clavichord enjoyed widespread popularity during the 18th century and was particularly appreciated in the Germanic countries. With its soft sound and extremely sensitive ‘dynamic’ keyboard, we are immersed in a particularly intimate relationship with the music. This programme is created around the Bach family and features works for flute and keyboard obligato, which are richer and denser than those with continuo.

It was Francisco Tárrega, composer and guitarist, who first transcribed Bach’s music for his own instrument, offering colour, tonal variety and clarity in an exploration of counterpoint. Tristan Manoukian’s transcription of the Partita No. 2 honours the precedent in its virtuosic and expressive writing. It is possible that the Suite and the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro were originally conceived for the so-called “lute-harpsichord”, a keyboard strung with gut that sounded like a lute. Bach’s version of Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto transforms and refashions it, and the guitar transcription is perfectly suited to convey the richness of its invention. Prizewinning guitarist Judicaël Perroy is one of the most exciting talents to have emerged in years.

J.S. Bach composed no original works for guitar, and although several compositions for lute have been attributed to him, his interest in this expressive instrument appears to have been rather limited, possibly because his mastery and knowledge of it was less extensive than of other instruments, such as the violin and keyboard. However, the 20th century still witnessed an increasing interest in the possibility of performing Bach’s music on the guitar.

It was in the late 1920s that Andrés Segovia recorded the Courante of the 3rd Cello Suite, and he followed this with the Chaconne from the Partita No.2 for solo violin, later recording the entire work. Julian Bream and Narciso Yepes also made recordings on the guitar of Bach’s music, but it was John Williams who eventually recorded the complete works for lute. These discs focus particularly on Bach’s Suites for lute – including BWV996, now attributed to his pupil J.L. Krebs.

Also included is the complete Partita No.2 for solo violin. To ensure that questions of interpretation were considered thoroughly, these recordings were made following extensive study of 18th century performance practice, as well as secondary sources that discuss how Bach’s music was originally played.

Booklet note.

Recording made in 2009–2010.

Attademo has also recorded Scarlatti’s Sonatas for Guitar for Brilliant Classics (9125).

Pascal Dubreuil’s recording of the Bach Partitas has been highly acclaimed in the international press and has received, among other awards, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritic.

The first release by Stefano Grondona entirely dedicated to J. S. Bach. He asserts in the liner notes: “Bach’s musical creativity moves almost at the margins of the instruments to which he destined his compositions [...]. The instrument becomes their vehicle, of which the characteristics are the reason for an expressive challenge, for linguistic creation, for peculiarities in style and at the same time the limit [...]. A guitar of Antonio de Torres (1817-1892), the most transcendent of the guitar builders, lends itself by its very nature to going where it is no longer guitar [...]. In the collection of Bach works collected on the CD I intend fully to make the most gestural expression of these important pieces [...]. For my six-string instrument, more specifically for the two Torres guitars used here, it is an expressive path going beyond those confined conceptual boundaries relating to a localised historical identity [...]. [...] a guitar which cancels every preconception, every phonic reiteration, every memory of a genre of sound of guitar. It becomes the instrument of gesture, the voice of a soul, the enunciation of a verb, which flows through the inflorescence, finally free, the future of Bach’s path”.

Stefano Grondona plays two prestigious Torres guitars: Torres 1887, SE 111 (tracks 1-6, 10-25); Torres 1887, SE 107 (tracks 7-9).