The pieces recorded
here are usually referred to as 'transcriptions',
as the title of this disc indicates.
But considering the character of these
'transcriptions' it is more appropriate
to call them 'arrangements', as Bach
often goes well beyond simply adapting
music to a different medium (here
the harpsichord).
There’s nothing new
about arranging music. In the 16th
century, for instance, vocal music
was arranged for instruments, often
by publishers who wanted to make a
profit from the popularity of certain
pieces. In the baroque era it wasn't
much different: copyright didn't exist,
and music by, for instance, Corelli
or Handel was adapted for other instruments,
often including a transposition to
another key. That said, arrangements
were not invariably motivated by commercial
motives.
Many composers of
the 17th and 18th centuries made arrangements
themselves, both of their own works
and of compositions by others. One
reason for arranging music by other
composers was to pay tribute to them.
A good example of this is Francesco
Geminiani. Although it isn't certain
that he was a pupil of Corelli, he
definitely admired him, and he arranged
Corelli's Sonatas for violin and bc
op. 5 as Concerti grossi for strings
and bc. Arrangements were also made
as part of a learning process: in
his youth Bach copied and arranged
music by past and present masters
to become an accomplished composer
himself.
It is impossible
to put an exact date to the composition
of the Sonata in a minor (BWV 965)
and the Prelude in C (BWV 966), but
without any doubt they were written
when Bach was still in the process
of learning. Both pieces are based
on sonatas for two violins, viola
da gamba and bc from the collection
'Hortus Musicus' (1688) by Johann
Adam Reincken (1643?-1722). In these
sonatas Reincken combined elements
of the style of his Dutch organ teacher
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and the
contemporary Italian instrumental
works. The middle voices in instrumental
music of the North-German school,
of which Reincken was an important
representative, have considerably
influenced Bach's compositional style.
What Bach did was
much more than just transcribing these
ensemble pieces for harpsichord. He
added some passages of his own, and
that makes the term 'arrangement'
more appropriate to describe how Bach
dealt with Reincken's music. It is
not very different from his treatment
of the Italian concertos he arranged
for harpsichord and organ during his
time in Weimar. One of them is the
Concerto in F (BWV 978) played here.
It was Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar
who asked him to make these arrangements.
From 1711 to 1713 he had studied at
the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands,
and as it was an international centre
of music printing he was able to purchase
a large amount of the latest music
by composers like Antonio Vivaldi
and the brothers Alessandro and Benedetto
Marcello. This is probably how Bach
became acquainted with this music,
and his studying and arranging of
these compositions also had a lasting
influence on his compositional style.
Here again he does more than transcribe
by transposing to other keys - here
Vivaldi's Concerto in G major (op.
3,3; RV 310) is transposed to F -,
changing the tempi and adding counterpoint
to the given material.
The last piece is
an arrangement of Bach's own music,
the Sonata for violin solo in a minor
(BWV 1003), and is of a much later
date, probably from his Leipzig period.
The arrangement is sometimes attributed
to his son Wilhelm Friedemann; it
is possible Bach had asked him to
make this transcription as part of
his musical education. But there is
no certainty about that. What is certain,
though, is that Bach himself used
to play his works for solo violin
on the keyboard. His former student
Johann Friedrich Agricola wrote: "Their
author often played them himself on
the Clavichord and added so much harmony
as he deemed necessary. In so doing
he realised the need for a sounding
harmony which he could not reach more
fully in that composition". From this
perspective one could say that this
arrangement - whoever made it - is
just an example of how Bach may have
played his sonatas and partitas for
violin solo on the keyboard.
As one may conclude
from this description of the pieces
on the programme, Benjamin Alard has
made an interesting and varied choice
from the many arrangements in the
Bach catalogue. He has made an astonishing
career, winning the important Bruges
International Harpsichord Competition
in 2004, well before his 20th birthday.
I have heard him live some years ago
in the Utrecht Early Music Festival
and I was impressed by his technical
qualities. I found his playing a bit
mechanical, though, with little room
for expression. I am happy to say
that in this recording there is nothing
wrong in that respect. His interpretation
is very differentiated, with well-chosen
tempi, nice ornamentation and with
great clarity. Even in the most dense
polyphonic movements, like the fugues,
all voices are easy to follow. That
is also to the credit of the recording
technician, who has done a great job.
I can only find two
points of criticism: with less than
53 minutes playing time this disc
is a bit short. And at several moments
there are some ugly sounds when Alard
takes his hands off the keyboard.
But it does nothing to diminish my
enjoyment of this recording.
Johan van Veen
for details
Benjamin Alard (harpsichord) 
