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Bach’s
keyboard works have hitherto
been considered for the most
part from the strictly
polyphonic aspect. The
"Well-tempered Clavier" with
its twice twenty-four
fugues, the Inventions and
the Goldberg Variations have
provided ample inducement
for this. And even the
expert alive to the
paramount importance of the
harmonic content has
continued to subscribe to
the view that only a rigid
metrical symmetry can
correctly reproduce such
objectivised part-writing.
Our recording, which in view
of the choice of works may
at first sight appear
arbitrary, aims at helping
to expand the image of
Bach’s art: works from
various phases of his life
have been selected,
revealing a diversity of
forms, modes of expression
and keyboard treatment.
The earliest work, the E
minor Toccata, had its
origins in Weimar around the
year 1710. The D major
Partita is an extract from
the first part of the
"Clavierübung" printed in
1731 as opus 1, the two
Ricercares being derived
from the "Musical Offering"
of 1747, which followed
Bach's visit to Frederick
the Great in Potsdam.
Whereas the three-part
Ricercare is a pure
harpsichord piece, the
interpretation of the
six-part one on this
instrument must also be
regarded as authentic, there
being an extant autograph
version with slight
divergences in which Bach
has written out the work in
keyboard score, i. e. in
double stave, and set down
the parts in such a way as
to be playable on the
harpsichord.
The heterogeneous style of
these works can only be
interpreted by one familiar
with the tradition of which
Bach partakes in his
keyboard works. Among the
pieces by earlier keyboard
composers of which Bach made
copies we encounter in
particular Frescobaldi and
Froberger. Frescobaldi
however gives instructions
for the playing of tcccatas
when in the 1614 edition of
the "Fiori musicali" he
demands tempo rubato, a
style of playing the freedom
of which he had borrowed
chiefly from the expressive
singing of madrigals. In his
toccatas and above all in
the "Lamenti" his pupil
Froberger carried the Roman
composer's precise rules a
stage further. He says
regarding his manner of
playing "with discretion"
that it cannot be put on
paper, which explains why he
submitted none of his works
for printing. Froberger
stayed not only with
Frescobaldi but also in
Paris, where the courtly
manner of lute-style playing
with its artistic
embellishments and arpeggios
found its way into his
suites.
Bach himself however
partakes not only of the
Frescobaldi-Froberger
tradition, being in greater
measure an admirer of the
great French masters of his
age, as is evident not only
from the title of the French
suites, but from the overall
lay-out of his partitas and
suites. Thus, alongside the
rubato playing of the
toccatas as enjoined by
Frescobaldi and Froberger's
discreet playing, there
arises the problem of
so-called "unequal" playing
as practised in France.
According to the executant’s
taste figures in measured
notation were enlivened by
rhythmic or dynamic
sub-divisions.
The entire wealth of rubato
playing, unequal playing and
graces is displayed in the
works on this recording,
maximum liberty prevailing
in the toccata, maximum
austerity in the mature
linear movement of the
ricercare.
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