Bach, J S: Italian Concerto, BWV971 (Concerto nach Italienischem Gusto)

Written to entertain a certain Count Keyserlingk in his waking hours, Bach's Goldberg Variatioins is a tour de force of keyboard writing and this represents one of its greatest recordings. Also on the programme are two popular Fantasies plus the jolly Italian Concerto

After the success of his two previous discs, devoted to Scarlatti and Clementi, pianist Olivier Cavé pursues his companionship with a Bach project.

Throughout his extraordinary career, Bach never tired of copying by hand the music of others, and the sense of eclecticism that would drive him to reproduce and adapt works, namely Italian music, was his way of achieving a very personal synthesis and creation, where abstract speculation and poetry would find their place.

These beautiful transcriptions were precisely at the origin of one of his master pieces, the Italian Concerto.

George Malcolm performs the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, the Italian Concerto, Toccata in D major, 5th French Suite and the concertos for three and four harpsichords. He collaborates with Eileen Joyce, Thurston Dart, Denis Vaughan and the Pro Arte Orchestra conducted by Boris Ord. There are precious few recordings of Malcolm available in today’s market and this Heritage issue attempts to redress the balance.

So much has been written about the sensation caused by Gould’s first studio recording of the Goldberg Variations in June 1955 that it is hardly necessary to repeat the story of this “birth of a legend” here. But even though it was this recording that laid the foundations for Gould’s international reputation as a Bach interpreter, its roots lie much further back. From the very outset his Bach had been as unconventional as it was distinctive – and so it remains, in spite of regular attempts to enthrone a “new Glenn Gould”. (Conversely, this has meant that every new recording of Bach’s keyboard works is judged by Gould’s standards.) His habit of slouching over the piano, the expansive gestures of his hands and arms, his stabbing nonlegato (almost always without the use of the sustaining pedal), his breathtaking polyphony and his often extreme tempi all result in a kind of pianism that seems to come from another planet, reminding us of Stefan George’s poem in Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet, “Entrückung” (Rapt Otherworldliness): “I breathe air from another planet.” [...]

DVD: The Goldberg Variations (1981) directed by Bruno Monsaingeon

Picture format: 4:3

NTSC; colour; DVD-5

Language: English (with subtitles in French and German)

In 2012, too, there are prominent treasures to be found: Aapo Häkkinen plays Bach’s Concertos for solo harpsichord and strings – the crown jewels of the harpsichord and piano literature – on a 16’ harpsichord, that is to say, an instrument with an additional, very low sounding register. Although Bach probably used a similar harpsichord himself, this is the first recording of this cycle of works on an instrument of this kind built in a historical manner!

The Helsinki Baroque Orchestra plays one on a part, and is obliged to the best Baroque traditions. As an “encore,” so to speak, the CD also contains Bach’s famous Italian Concerto for harpsichord solo – on the 16’ instrument, it is an amazing sonic experience!

Lorenzo Ghielmi has devoted many years to the study and interpretation of Renaissance and Baroque music.

He performs throughout Europe, in Japan and America.

He performs these works on instruments by Keith Hill (2001) and Andrea Restelli (2003).

It is unusual for Priory to record harpsichord music, but this outstanding instrument by Andrew Garlick, as played by Andrew Arthur, makes for a terrific recital from Trinity Hall.