Bach - The Concertos for Keyboard / New Masterting (Century's recording : Glenn Gould)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - The Concertos for Keyboard

Keyboard Concerto No.2 in E MAjor, BWV 1053
I.Allegro (00:00) II.Siciliano (08:04) III.Allegro (12:41)

Keyboard Concerto No.3 in D Major, BWV 1054
I.Allegro (19:01) II.Adagio e piano sempre (26:51)
III.Allegro (32:43)

Keyboard Concerto No.4 in A Major, BWV 1055
I.Allegro (35:33) II.Larghetto (39:41)
III.Allegro ma non tanto (45:23)

Keyboard Concerto No.5 in F minor, BWV 1056
I.Allegro (49:33) II.Largo (53:10) III.Presto (56:07

Keyboard Concerto No.7 in G minor, BWV 1058
I.Allegro (59:57) II.Andante (1:03:47)
III.Allegro assai (1:09:46)
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Direction : Vladimir Golschmann
Stéréo recordings in 1958,67,69, at NewYork

Keyboard Concerto No.1 in D minor, BWV 1052
I.Allegro (1:13:41) II.Adagio (1:22:28)
III.Allegro (1:29:50)
Academic Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad
Direction : Vladislav Slovak
Live recording in 1957, at Leningrad

Piano/Klavier : Glenn Gould
New Mastering in 2018 by AB
Label : CBS / Sony

In the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and earlier, one may find thematic ideas and harmonic progressions floating freely from one composer to another; sometimes whole movements or even whole compositions were adapted and reworked; and, certainly and most commonly, composers refashioned their own materials to fit new forms or fulfill new functions. The majority of bach’s clavier concertos fall into this latter category as rewrites of previously existing concertos, mostly for violin (click to listen : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydGJn6tegSA&index=11&list=PL3UZpQL9LIxOLRwxl1dEfDrH3c8mX5UB1). Herein lies a principal reason for the clavier domination of the works, for the part previously assigned to the solo violin is now given to the keyboard player’s right hand, and the left hand, as if it were another instrument, plays a bass part. In actual fact, Bach’s usage of the musical material contained in these works did not stop with the concertos themselves. Movements from them can be found reworked and re-orchestrated and fulfilling a completely new function in the church cantatas he wrote for later occasions.

In 1837, a noted keyboard virtuoso gave a performance of J.S. Bach’s Clavier Concerto No.1 in D minor. In a notice of the concert, published afterwards, an influential music journalist had the following remarks to make :
« I should like to speak of many thoughts that were awakened in my mind by this noble work.. Will it be believed that on the music shelves of the Berlin Singakademie, to which old Welter bequeathed his library, at least seven such concertos, and a countless number of other Bach compositions, in manuscript, are carefully stowed away? Few persons are aware of it, but they lie there notwithstanding. Is it not time, would it not be useful for the German nation, to publish a perfect edition of the complete works of Bach? The idea should be considered, and the words of a practical expert, who speaks of this undertaking on page 76 of the current volume of the Neue Zeitschrift (für Musik) would serve as a motto. He says : ‘’The publication of the works of Sebastian Bach is an enterprise I hope soon to see in execution one that delights my heart, which beats wholly for the great and lofty art of this father of harmony.’’ ‘’Just look it up’’.

The virtuoso who performed the Concerto was Felix Mendelssohn. The music journalist was Robert Schumann. The ‘’expert’’ cited was Ludwig Van Beethoven. the quotation was from a letter Beethoven wrote to the music publisher Hoffmeister in 1801. So much for establishing the validity and stature of Bach’s clavier concertos as great works of musical art. James Goodfriend

Johann Sebastian Bach PLAYLIST (reference recordings) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3UZpQL9LIxOLRwxl1dEfDrH3c8mX5UB1

Click to buy this recording : https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Concertos-Keyboard-Klavier-Strings/dp/B00000DS7S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1534602420&sr=8-2&keywords=gould+bach+concertos