Bach Imagine

Featuring

Jean Rondeau
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Interpretation

The performer chose to explore Bach's works through transcriptions, viewing them as a 'learning exercise' to understand how the music is made.

Instruments

Bach owned two 'lute-harpsichords' (Lautenclavicymbel), a hybrid instrument with a keyboard head on a shell-shaped body, which may have been the intended instrument for the Lute Suite No. 2.

Compositional Technique

Johannes Brahms transcribed Bach's Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for violin for left hand only on the piano, believing it to be the best way to capture the work's sublime essence.

Interpretation

The performer plays Brahms's transcription of the Chaconne on the harpsichord with both hands, finding that a single hand on the harpsichord would lose too much harmonic texture.

Compositional Technique

Bach's Italian Concerto for harpsichord (BWV 971) is a 'tour de force' that creates the illusion of a full orchestra using only the harpsichord's plucked mechanics and register changes.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The performer describes Bach's instrumental works as music of a titan, yet always written for students, even the Goldberg Variations are seen as exercises for court evenings.

Composition History

The transcription of Bach's Violin Sonata BWV 1003 for keyboard (BWV 964) is attributed to a descendant of Bach, possibly his son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, though the exact transcriber is unknown.