Johann Sebastien BACH
A Musical Offering, BWV1079
Canons BWV 1072 - 1078, 1086
14 Canons BWV
1087
Gottfried von der Goltz, Petra
Mullejans, Martin Jopp, Daniela Helms, Christian Gosses (Violin / Viola),
Karl Keiser (flute), Ekkehard Weber (viola da gamba), Kristin von der Goltz
(cello) and Michael Behringer (harpsichord / forte piano (BWV
1079)
Gottfried von der Goltz, Petra Mullejans, Daniela Helms, Christian Gosses
(Violin / Viola), Kristin von der Goltz (cello) and Michael Behringer
(harpsichord (Canons).
recorded digitally in Zentralsaal Bamberg 12-14 May 1999 (BWV 1078) and Kath,
Pfarrkirke Oberried, Briesgau 28th September 1999,
(Canons).
Hanssler Edition CD92.133
[57.55]
Crotchet
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This disc is one of the 170 discs in the massive commemorative Hanssler /
Bachakademie edition of the complete works of J. S. Bach, prepared and issued
over the last year or so, and completed in June 2000. The set is available
complete, which can be purchased in various ways, as a one off buy, in groups
of discs at a discount, or as single issues. This one is a single disc and
contains a major Bach work, supplemented by a collection of canons which
are more likely to attract the specialist rather than the average collector.
Still it is a good way to introduce relatively obscure pieces to the collector
and Hanssler is to be congratulated in issuing us with this very interesting
disc.
If I concentrate on the Musical Offering, it is only because this is probably
the work which will attract the purchaser more than the canons. The opening
ricercare is entrusted to the fortepiano, while the second is on harpsichord.
The Canons are then played by various combinations of instruments and the
variety that this gives us makes for delightful listening, particularly when
the playing of the various musicians is so vital. The choice of instruments
is not as free a choice as with, say, the Art of Fugue, as most were specified
by the composer. What we have in this issue is the variety afforded the group
by swapping harpsichord for fortepiano in various movements. In addition,
we have the period instrument timbres, and these all add up to far more than
an academic exercise.
The Musical Offering was composed as a result of a request to Bach from the
young King Frederik II to present himself to the King. Although Bach was
not in the habit of travelling, he visited the King in order presumably not
to affect his son C. P. E. Bach who was the King's harpsichordist. One of
the reasons for the King wanting to meet Johan Sebastien was to hear him
play the King's latest acquisition, the fortepiano. The King supplied Bach
with a theme, and Bach improvised fugues on the theme to the King's delight.
Not content with just visiting, Bach then wrote A Musical Offering consisting
of two Ricercares, a trio sonata and various canons, fugues and inventions
for the King.
Other performances of this work have tried different sequences of the various
movements of the work, but this recording goes back to the original printing
of the score.
With the canons, we enter a different sound picture. Indeed one of them (BWV
1072), I originally wondered if my player had developed a problem as the
theme (a very short one) is played over and over again and it sounded more
like a "repeating groove" - very unusual. Nevertheless, a very stimulating
issue.
Reviewer
John Phillips
