The partitas on this recording, except for the 'Winter' Partita, were never printed and are found in an undated manuscript alongside works by Kuhnau, Telemann, and Handel.
Compositional Technique
Graupner was the first German to recommend in print the use of the thumb for scales in his published keyboard works.
Performer Biography
Naoko Akutagawa, the harpsichordist, began studying piano at age three and switched to harpsichord at sixteen, later becoming an assistant professor at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg, Germany.
Composer Biography
Johann Christoph Graupner, the composer, was highly esteemed in his time, even being considered for the St. Thomas cantorate in Leipzig before J.S. Bach.
Compositional Technique
The immense Chaconne in A major on this album is a series of variations on a four-bar bass line, detached from its original partita to be presented as a standalone work.
Composer Biography
Graupner, like J.S. Bach, suffered from blindness in his old age.
Compositional Technique
Graupner's harpsichord suites are considered stylistically more advanced than Handel's, incorporating influences from later French and Italian schools, particularly the Venetian concerto style.
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