Bach: 6 Sonaten für Orgel in Bearbeitungen für 2 Klaviere zu 4 Händen

Featuring

Claudine Orloff
Burkard Spinnler
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Composition History

Johann Sebastian Bach completed his six trio sonatas in 1730 to provide his favorite son, Friedemann, then 20, with the best works to complete his musical training.

Critical Reception

Musicologists like Albert Schweitzer and Karl Geiringer praised Bach's trio sonatas, with Geiringer comparing their historical importance to Chopin's piano studies.

Instruments

Many instrument makers in Bach's time created pedal-boards adapted for clavichords, harpsichords, and pianofortes, allowing organists to practice at home instead of in often cold churches where organ bellows required constant manual labor.

Recording & Production

This album features a collection of transcriptions for two modern grand pianos by notable transcribers from the 19th and 20th centuries, many of which are first recordings on CD.

Performer Biography

Claudine Orloff and Burkard Spinnler, the duo on this recording, are dedicated explorers of the two-piano and piano four-hands repertoire, having performed extensively and commissioned new works.

Historical Context

The year 1730 was a transitional period for keyboard instruments, with German Baroque organs at their peak, but also various stringed keyboard instruments like harpsichords, clavichords, and pianofortes gaining popularity in homes and concert halls.

Compositional Technique

Bach adapted the Italian trio sonata tradition, a typical Baroque chamber music form, into a concerto-like structure with three fast-slow-fast movements, uniquely dedicating it to the keyboard instrument with pedals.