These pieces are likely
to be more interesting for the harpsichordist,
composer or musicologist than for the
listener: except that all listeners
are, from the moment they have more
than half a dozen CDs on their shelves,
musicologists! As transcriptions - probably
for him and his sons to play - of pieces
originally conceived for string soloists,
these pieces illuminate Bach’s thinking
about melodic line, tone colour and
orchestral balance, among other things,
as well as doing everything else that
good music does for us. But whether
they ‘work’ as well as they do in their
original format is debatable.
Of course we don’t
always have the originals to hand to
make that essential comparison. Of the
music on this disc, BWV1060 in C minor
tends most often to be heard these days
in a conjectural ‘reverse transcription’
by Max Seiffert (published in 1920)
as a Concerto in D minor - transposed
up a tone - for violin and oboe: conjectural,
but persuasive, even if the case for
the oboe (instead of a second violin)
is weak.
BWV1061 in C major
exists in a version by Anna Magdalena
Bach for two harpsichords without
orchestra. But we can’t be certain whether
this was the ‘original’ original, or
indeed to what extent Bach (J.S., I
mean) was responsible for the version
we have here.
The most familiar piece
on this disc is the other C minor, BWV1062,
a reincarnation of the celebrated Concerto
in D minor, again, a tone higher, for
two violins. The busy outer movements
work well in this new guise, the more
so for being taken at a moderate pace:
unlike some more recent recordings -
Manze or Hahn, for example. However,
the wonderful dialogue of intertwining
lines in the slow movement of the original
version - remember the two Oistrakhs?
- can be made to ‘work’, if you think
it does, in Bach’s transcription only
by meticulously embellishing the soloists’
phrases, so that long notes are carried
across the beat or the bar-line in order
to make their harmonic effect. But with
the best will in the world, you can’t
possibly compare the melting suspensions
and expressive collisions of the two
solo violin voices with the percussive
plucking of competing harpsichords!
The A minor Concerto,
BWV1065, is a reworking of Vivaldi’s
Concerto in B minor (Op 3/10, RV580)
for four violins, from L’estro armonico.
This is a winner: it’s difficult to
resist the sheer clatter of four harpsichords,
especially those deafening slow movement
chords, with their spluttering dotted
rhythms! Although the conversational
exchanges in the outer movements are
difficult to separate, even - as here
- in a well-spaced recording. And Bach’s
accompaniments are rather fuller, lush,
I was tempted to say, than Vivaldi’s,
making for a more substantial listening
experience than the original. What a
pity, but no surprise, perhaps, considering
the ‘logistics’, that we seldom hear
this ‘recomposition’ - as Schoenberg
described his transcription of Handel’s
Op 6/8 - in the concert hall.
If nothing else, this
is a very interesting disc! As
always, Koopman and his Amsterdam colleagues
are models of good taste, artistic judgement
and technical polish: and the two (or
four) soloists play as one. The recording
has a most agreeable ambience, and clearly
separates the two or four solo instruments:
try it on headphones for maximum effect.
Despite being only two thirds ‘full’
- there’s room for one or two more concertos
here - this is an appealing reissue,
and can be confidently recommended.
Peter J Lawson
Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot (harpsichords),
Elina Mustonen and Patrizia Marisaldi (harpsichords
- BWV1065 only) 
