Bach, J S: Suite in G minor, BWV822

On the choice of repertoire It has long been surprising to me to encounter a sort of flaunted predilection for Béla Bartók’s Sonata in musicians or music lovers. Many years later, when I began planning a CD programme centred on this Sonata, I quite soon ran up against the difficulty of choosing the other works that would echo the piece. After much hesitation, Bach’s Fantasy and Fugue BWV 542, an organ work that had fascinated me from the first time I heard it, imposed itself on me through transcription work in which I had immediately become involved. My choice for the second transcription readily went to a work of a thoroughly different nature. The Suite BWV 822 for harpsichord charmed me straightaway with its very orchestral overture à la française, the Italian influences (‘Aria’), as well as the other pedigreed dances making it up and also close to the French Baroque. Tedi Papavrami

Abut the artist:

Having completed his studies at the age of fifteen, Tedi pursued his instrumental and musical development on his own. He had recently defected to France, as had his parents. The Communist regime in Albania took savage reprisals on other family members who had stayed behind, and the sanctions remained in force until the fall of the regime in 1991. So as to stay away from the Albanian embassy officials who were on their tail, Tedi and his parents left Paris and with the help of friends settled near Bordeaux. From there, Tedi launched his career as a soloist and chamber orchestra musician. In 2003 he appeared on a television programme with Jeanne Moreau: the actress quickly recruited him to play the lead role (alongside Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett and Nastasja Kinski) in Josée Dayan's film adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons. He now lives in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was appointed professor of violin at the Conservatoire de Genève in September 2008.

This six-CD set marks the arrival of Tedi Papavrami on ZZT. It gathers together all his recordings for unaccompanied violin originally released on Aeon (Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, transcriptions of Scarlatti keyboard sonatas, transcriptions of various works by Bach, the Paganini Caprices, and the Bartók Sonata).

The box also includes an Ysaÿe sonata inspired by Bach, a sneak preview of the set of Six Sonatas for unaccompanied violin to be released in the autumn of 2013 along with the Sonata for two violins.

In 1994, pianist Ivo Janssen started a very ambitious project: performing and recording the complete keyboard works by J S Bach. In February 1998 the first CD in this series was released, on his own label VOID, which was especially started for this purpose.

This set is the only complete keyboard set containing previously cut passages and includes 191 BWV numbers and over 23 hours of music. “Janssen has admirable skills for the task: a pianist’s sensibility, an unflagging imagination and compelling musicianship.” American Record Guide.