BACH COMPOSITIONS PARTITA PROFESSIONAL

Any commentary or critical apparatus, if protected by copyright, should not be included in the scan(s) available here. This sequence is my personal choice needless to say, it raises no claims to universal truth.This is an urtext/critical/scholarly/scientific edition (or a simple re-engraving). If we start with the G-major Partita, the keys of the six works form a hexachord: G–a–B flat–c–D–e, with the major and minor modes evenly distributed among the ascending pitches and the sunlit, graceful G-major work forming an ingratiating and appropriate opening. Is it really mandatory to place it at the beginning? I think not. The B-flat major Partita calls for great inner tranquility of the sort that never exists at the beginning of a public recital. Yet I always had the feeling that something was not quite right. It would be simple and logical to play these exemplary suites in their conventional order, as I used to do in the past. Nonetheless, the six partitas form an ideal, if long, concert program: Bach’s music succeeds over and over again in forging an intimate bond between performer and audience. The work is designed to be at once encyclopedic, scholarly, and instructive. The object of his “Clavierübung” was, of course, to systematically summarize the forms and genres of his day. To be sure, Bach never imagined performing all the partitas in a single concert. This was just as true of my second recording of the “Goldberg” Variations, made live in concert in 2003, as it was for the partitas I recorded during a recital in 2007. We form a better understanding of its structure and inner workings horizons broaden before our eyes. Even if we never quite reach that imaginary goal, our many performances give us experience and knowledge that was hidden from us years ago. We try our entire lives to unveil its secrets and to convey its unique message. Great music is far greater than its performers. Matthew Passion and the B-minor Mass several times were experiences that have left an indelible mark on my piano performances: we frequently find dance movements in Bach’s churchmusic, and his instrumental works were often inspired by his sacred compositions. Since then I’ve continued to study his great keyboard works and often performed them in cycles.

I made my first recording of Bach’s six partitas in London’s Kingsway Hall in 1983. Sir András Schiff presented the Six Partitas as part of his multi-season Bach cycle at the Pierre Boulez Saal. Even at the time, these works, which certainly demand advanced technical skills, were a sensation: “never had such excellent compositions for the clavier been seen or heard,” Bach’s first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, declared.

BACH COMPOSITIONS PARTITA PROFESSIONAL

Dedicated to “amateurs, for the delectation of their spirit,” Bach decidedly intended this collection not for professional musicians, but for noble and bourgeois amateurs to whom music was an essence of life, but not a means of making a living. The Partita in B-flat major would be followed by five more ultimately, this master of the Baroque had all of them published under the title Clavier-Übung (“Piano Exercise”) as his Opus 1 in 1731. When Johann Sebastian Bach presented the public with his first published work in 1726, he was already 41 years old. BARENBOIM - SAID AKADEMIE AKADEMIE PIERRE BOULEZ SAAL SAAL PIERRE BOULEZ SAAL ONLINE Explore Calendar Masterclasses with Daniel Barenboim Online Membership About us Get in touch E-Learning Course Arabic Music en de

Bach compositions partita