Bach: Keyboard Concertos Nos. 1-7, BWV 1052-8 etc.

Featuring

Angela Hewitt
Richard Tognetti
Alison Mitchell
Emma Sholl
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Johann Sebastian Bach

Did you know?

1/7

Compositional Technique

Bach frequently borrowed from his own compositions, recycling movements from concertos into cantatas, often adding florid parts.

Compositional Technique

The Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 was groundbreaking as it was the first time the harpsichord was used as a solo instrument in a concerto, rather than just for continuo.

Recording & Production

This recording uses a harpsichord in its traditional continuo role alongside the modern piano soloist to better distinguish between solo and tutti passages, adding appropriate color to the orchestra.

Performer Biography

Angela Hewitt, the pianist on this album, has won several prestigious awards, including the Viotti Competition in Italy and the Toronto International Bach Competition.

Composer Biography

Johann Sebastian Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723 as Kantor of the Thomaskirche, a step down in status from his previous Kapellmeister position, but a better place to educate his children.

Composition History

Bach directed the Collegium Musicum, a music society founded by Georg Philipp Telemann at Leipzig University, from 1729 for ten years, composing many secular instrumental works during this time.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The album's performer, Angela Hewitt, defends playing Bach on a modern piano by arguing that if Bach wrote melodic lines for other instruments, he would have wanted them played on a keyboard capable of the same expression.