J.S. BACH (1685 – 1750)

Transcrições inéditas para violão barroco

While Bach produced chamber music for the court prince of Köthen, he worked on keyboard compositions for his sons and his second wife, Anna Magdalena. The first five French Suites appeared in the socalled Anna Magdalena Notebook of 1722.

The first Suite and part of the second are also present in the second book of music for Anna Magdalena, begun in 1725. The first Suite BWV 812 in D minor opens with an Allemand, followed by a Courant in the French style. Following those , we have a very expressive Saraband, presenting rhetorical figures of catabases – descending passages – throughout its structure. The only galanteie in the first Suite is a pair of Minuets, both in D minor. The Gigue that closes the work presents a counterpoint that recalls a fugue, having the theme reversed in its second part. In the version presented in this recording, this Suite is transposed to G minor.

The Prelude BWV 924 in C major is the first of nine small keyboard preludes by Bach. The consensus among historians is that this material was written by Bach to teach his gifted children. This work is presented here is in E flat major.

The 6 Cello suites were written in the same period that Bach lived in Köthen (1717-1723). These works are the apex of the composer’s output in achieving the effect of implicit polyphonic counterpoint of up to three and four voices expressed in a single musical line. The 1st Suite BWV 1007 in G major is composed of six movements: Prelude, Allemand, Courant, Saraband, Minuet I & II and Gigue and is among the most popular of the composer.

This CD also features Saraband and Gavotte from the 6thSuite BWV 1012 for cello, whose original key is in D major. All works written for cello presented in this album have been transposed to E flat major.

Paulo Martelli
Araraquara 10 de setembro de 2017