Luogo e data di registrazione		Hervormde Kerk, Bennebroek (Holland) - Dicembre 1967
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Wolf Erichson
	Prima Edizione LP		Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9538-B | 1 LP - durata 43' 59" | (p) 1968 | ANA Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SCA 25022-T/1-5 | 5 LPs - durata 212' 39" | (c) 1972 | ANA | (Sämtliche Cembalokonzerte)
	Edizione CD		Teldec Classics | LC 3706 | 8.35778 XD | 3 CDs - durata 76' 42" - 72' 00" - 63' 57" | (c) 1989 | ADD | (Sämtliche Cembalokonzerte)
	Cover		-
	Note		Oaul Joseph Delchloche "Hofkonzert in Lüttich" (Bavarian Narional Museum, Munich)

Concerto for harpsichord in A major, BW V 1055 The A major Concerto, probably the least known of all Bach’s solo concertos, is sure to have been transcribed, like the F minor work, from a lost original (violin concerto in B major?). (The only striking feature that is difficult to fit in with Bach’s normal technique of arrangement is the independent writing of the continuo [orchestral] bass and the harpsichord bass.) In its form it is one of the simplest, in its content one of the least characteristic of Bach’s concertos, so that the suspicion forces itself upon us that Bach used as a pattern a violin concerto by another master. The first movement, with its ritornello theme of pompously breaking out broken chords (cf. the finale of the Double Concerto BWV 1043 and 1062 respectively) and its simple, cantabile solo melody are unusually Italian in effect, while the Finale, with its peculiarly vacillating thematic material that loses itself in embellishments in the style of French overture melody, is far removed from all typical finales. The slow movement is the fullest of character, a brooding Siciliano in F sharp minor, whose broadly curved cantilenas flow over chromatic basses with lamenting suspension harmonies - a contrast between outer and inner movements such as is hardly to be found so violent in any other Bach harpsichord concerto. Concerto for harpsichord in F minor, BWV 1056 The F minor Concerto is in all probability the rearrangement of a lost violin concerto that was presumably in G minor. It is more likely to have been by Bach himself than by Vivaldi or some other Italian (as has been variously assumed), since Bach already used the middle movement around 1729 (transcribed for oboe and strings and in F major) as the Sinfonia to his Cantata No. 156 “Ich steh mit einem Fuß am Grabe”. That the original was at any rate intended for a melodic instrument such as the oboe or violin is clearly shown by the “cantabile” themes of its movements and the constantly “cantabile” -figurative melodic style of the solo part even in the harpsichord transcription. It is also consistent with this that the left hand of the harpsichord is confined, at least in the outer movements, almost entirely to doubling the bass of the tutti. The work is more simple in its form and comparatively more conventional than the previous concerto, but on the other hand almost still more concentrated in its thematic work. Its original conception for a melodic instrument leads to the polyphony and thematic work being concentrated almost entirely on the tutti, and its character being distinguished above all by broadly curved melodic lines rich in leading notes and chromaticism which, together with the dense thematic work, the strong accentuation of full-bar rhythmic motifs and not least the sombre basic key, give the work a very earnest, almost defiant spirit. Rhythmic formulas, particularly the ever returning, ever newly circumscribed and usually dactyllically extended initial motif already dominate the remarkably condensed first movement, which in its form is almost a regular Italian concerto movement. Its figurative soli, however, continually have developments of individual tutti motifs (sequential treatment, partial repetitions, continuations) superimposed upon them, so that the entire movement seems like one long development of the ritornello theme-a development filled with almost repelling seriousness. The A flat. major Largo, which leads into the Finale through an imperfect cadence, is peculiarly Italian in effect with its luxuriantly embellished, inexhaustibly flowing solo cantilena to a serenade-like pizzicato accompaniment of the tutti, and it forms an idyllic contrast to the stern earnest of the outer movements. The Finale also links up outwardly with the Italian type of finale in its 3/8 time, but it transforms the carefree, dance-like spirit of such movements into darkly agitated rhythmic energy. In its form, the movement is very similar to the first, just as the structure of the tutti ritornello is closely linked to the opening movement, in its form and even in details of the motifs. The technique of playing down the tutti - soli contrast through constant thematic work is hardly less developed than there, and even takes greater possession of the solo instrument, particularly in the mighty quaver chords which - in full-bar and altogether abrupt rhythms as in the first movement - repeatedly interrupt even the ritornello repetitions right till the end and charge them with dramatic agitation. Concerto for harpsichord in E major, BWV 1053 If the A major Concerto is one of Bach’s “lesser” solo concertos, its sister-work in E major is one of the composer’s biggest (and best-known), not in dimensions alone either. It was evidently not written, as is usually assumed, as an original composition for the harpsichord, but as a transcription of a concerto some ten years older that was probably composed for a melody instrument. At least the fact speaks for this that all three movements already appear in a first transcription in cantatas of the year 1726: the first and second as Sinfonia and Aria (both with obligato organ) in BWV 169 “Gott soll allein mein Herze haben”, the third as Sinfonia (likewise with obligato organ) in BWV 49 “Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen”. Since Bach hardly had occasion to write harpsichord concertos before 1726, the basis for these cantata movements will sooner have been a Köthen violin concerto - unless of course one assumes that the cantata movements were the original composition itself, from which Bach “extracted” the concerto in the later Leipzig years and rewrote it for harpsichord. In its form, the work is perhaps the most progressive of all the master’s harpsichord concertos - similar to the F minor Concerto in the concentration of the thematic work, but amazingly closely approaching the later sonata form in its outer movements. In its character, it is at the same time one of the most amiable and most rich in nuances, which is again connected with this formal speciality. Hardly any other concerto of Bach’s colours the thematic material of the outer movements, together with their thematic and concertante treatment, in such variety, illuminates them harmonically so colourfully and subtley, and hardly any other has such a powerfully surging, emphatic middle movement as the C sharp minor Siciliano, which stylizes the traditional Siciliano idiom up to a higher plane of majesty. Again, hardly any other is so written for fullness of sound and harpsichord brilliance - most strikingly in the Finale, which has been rearranged most drastically and most suitably for the harpsichord in comparison with the organ version. Ludwig Finscher