JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Fabio Bonizzoni La Risonanza
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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Harpsichord Concertos vol. 1 Fabio Bonizzoni La Risonanza 1 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Harpsichord Concertos vol.1 Fabio Bonizzoni La Risonanza Jorge Jimenez violin Ulrike Slowik violin Krishna Nagaraja viola Caterina Dell’Agnello cello Nicola Dal Maso violone Fabio Bonizzoni harpsichord and direction Fabio Bonizzoni plays a Willem Kroesbergen after Couchet harpsichord. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) When Johann Sebastian Bach noted down his harpsichord concerto in D minor around 1738, the work already had a long history – as do all four concertos Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052* which Fabio Bonizzoni has selected for this recording. Twenty years previously, [1] I. Allegro 7:38 Bach had composed it as a virtuoso violin concerto, possibly for a performance [2] II. Adagio 5:48 given by the Leipzig violinist Johann Gottfried Vogler at the Köthen court in [3] III. Allegro 7:55 December 1718. When Bach moved to Leipzig, this work lost its purpose for a while, until he took it out of the drawer again in September 1725 for a journey Harpsichord Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1053 to Dresden where he was due to give a concert at the Sophienkirche, playing [4] I. [no tempo marking] 8:04 the organ and performing alongside the famous Dresden court orchestra. [5] II. Siciliano 4:08 For this occasion, he needed concertos for organ and orchestra. Apparently, [6] III. Allegro 6:53 he had arranged three earlier concertos for this purpose which he later was to integrate into his Leipzig church cantatas, adapted for organ and orchestra. Harpsichord Concerto No. 4 in A Major, BWV 1055 The first movement of the D minor concerto, BWV 1052, was re-used as the [7] I. Allegro 4:24 sinfonia to cantata BWV 146, whilst the adagio was supplemented with four [8] II. Larghetto 4:24 choral lines singing the words “Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich [9] III. Allegro ma non tanto 4:30 Gottes eingehen” [We must pass through much misery to enter God’s realm]. The finale became the sinfonia to cantata BWV 188, “Ich habe meine Zuversicht” Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056 [I have placed my trust]. In this form, as an organ concerto within cantatas, [10] I. [no tempo marking] 3:29 the D minor concerto could often be heard in the Leipzig churches, played [11] II. Largo 2:16 by Bach’s organ students and his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. But it was [12] III. Presto 3:36 Bach’s second son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, who first thought of refashioning the work into a harpsichord concerto. His transcription survives: it is an unconvincing attempt of a young man to adapt a virtuoso violin concerto to the total time 63:07 soundscape of the harpsichord. But it did inspire Bach senior to produce his own version, prompting a series of his own harpsichord concertos. *Version according to Bach’s autograph score 4 5 He began by arranging his A minor violin concerto in G minor (BWV 1058), the like of which has not been heard before around here”. This magnificent followed by the opening of the D minor concerto, BWV 1059. He was not instrument, which featured at the Zimmermann concerts, urgently called satisfied with either arrangement and abandoned work on the incomplete for concertos to be played by himself as soloist, and even more so his sons scores. He took a new sheet, once again marked it “J.J.” – “Jesu Juva” and students. Bach was regarded as the absolute authority on all aspects of [Jesus, help], his customary formula at the beginning of a new work – organ and harpsichord performance, not just in Saxony but also far beyond. and proceeded to write down the D minor concerto, BWV 1052. For this work, He thus had to make his own contribution to the emerging genre of the he needed exactly twenty-four pages, i.e. three double sheets, of manuscript “clavier concerto”. The manuscript of his six harpsichord concertos BWV 1052 paper. The final page provided sufficient space to note down the opening of to 1057 should therefore be understood as a repertoire collection for his the second concerto. Bach composed a further four concertos, up to BWV 1057, collegium musicum, and as a compositional manifesto. concluding them with his habitual closing formula “Fine SDG” (Soli Deo Gloria), meaning “End. Glory to God alone”. He thus demonstrated that, with this Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052 cycle of six works, he had created his contribution to the increasingly popular genre of the harpsichord concerto, a consummate collection of works akin to Within the six concertos, each work takes on a specific function: the D minor his “Brandenburg Concertos”, his sonatas for violin and harpsichord, or his concerto is the longest, most virtuosic and most Italianate of the collection. trio sonatas for organ. Bach created his final cycle of instrumental music in the The first movement demonstratively begins in unison – as do countless Italian common Italian concerto and sonata forms, and his only cycle of solo concertos concertos from around 1720. The syncopations of this defiant opening shape based on the model of Vivaldi. the entire movement, especially as they keep returning in the accompaniment of the solo part. The ritornello itself is also developed, at times in stretto, It is no coincidence that he chose the form of the harpsichord concerto, at times as a canon, until it reappears in unison at the end of the movement. rather than consolidating his earlier violin and oboe concertos in one This treatment of the ritornello is contrasted with the soloist’s virtuosic manuscript. With his fifth Brandenburg Concerto of 1719, Bach had created passages, which Bach adapted so thoroughly to the sound of the harpsichord the first ever harpsichord concerto. From 1729, in Leipzig, the opportunity that it is easy in places to overlook the work’s violinistic origins. What appears arose to continue this experiment: each week at Café Zimmermann he to be archetypal harpsichord writing – fistfuls of notes, delivered with great conducted his “Collegium musicum” in orchestral concerts that lasted around panache – is, in fact, the result of Bach’s meticulous revision. The same is true two hours. In the summer of 1733, he took delivery of “a new harpsichord, of the expressive ornaments in the adagio. Here, the plaintive solo voice of 6 7 the harpsichord is laid above a complex mesh of inner parts played by the written in Köthen. Here, Bach also has the bass line pause during the strings, whilst a basso ostinato unswervingly makes its rounds far below. accompaniment of the soloist. This gained him an empty stave, which he The finale is cast in a dance-like triple time, reminiscent of Vivaldi’s distinctive then used to note down the beautiful ornaments for the solo part. anapaest rhythms. Bach quoted the motifs from Vivaldi’s Op. 3 almost directly, but then went on to condense them in his characteristic manner with the Harpsichord Concerto No. 4 in A Major, BWV 1055 and top and bass parts forming a double counterpoint. During the course of the Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056 movement, the ritornello is dissected and every single motif developed. The solo harpsichord contrasts the tutti writing with its own brim-full theme. Whilst the concertos in D minor and E major are substantial works with a As in the opening movement, the first half of the finale, featuring a tightly duration of approximately eighteen minutes each, the concertos in A major and interleaved dialogue between solo and tutti, is also followed by a rhapsodic F minor are far more compact. Both display noticeable influences of the galant second half, becoming more and more virtuosic, finally ending in a style and were therefore probably not written before 1730. The ornamented solo cadenza. motifs in the first ritornello of the A major concerto are reminiscent both of the Dresden arias by Johann Adolph Hasse and of the dance-like rhythms of Harpsichord Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1053 the finale. Thanks to its free treatment of the siciliano rhythm and the basso ostinato, the larghetto also seems much more “modern” than the central The stormy and sombre D minor concerto is followed by the serene and movements of BWV 1052 and 1053. The defiant main theme of the opening cantabile E major concerto which, as Joshua Rifkin has convincingly argued, movement of the F minor concerto even reveals Polish influences. The outer may well be based on a lost oboe concerto in E flat major. Bach painstakingly movements of this concerto are probably based on a lost violin concerto in G arranged the original oboe part for the harpsichord, leaving the harpsichordist minor, whilst the middle movement seems to originate from an oboe concerto to play on his or her own for many bars. This makes the sound of the first in D minor. It was only for the harpsichord version that Bach transposed movement airy and light, which blends well with the nimble theme. This this movement to A flat major, added pizzicato in the strings and gorgeous movement and the finale are both conceived in a large-scale da capo form ornaments in the solo part, making this largo one of his most beautiful and which Bach favoured during his Köthen period around 1720. The central celebrated slow movements. movement, however, is a particularly expressive siciliano in C sharp minor, a counterpart to the opening movement of the C minor sonata, BWV 1017, Translation: Viola Scheffel / Muse Translations 8 9 Fabio Bonizzoni Fabio Bonizzoni, one of the leading Italian harpsichordists and organists of his and 3 of the 7 CDs have been awarded the prestigious Handel Stanley Sadie generation, graduated in organ, organ composition and harpsichord at the Prize.