Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suites For Harpsichord - Dario Carpanese

Cello Suites for Harpsichord presents Johann Sebastian Bach’s first three Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1009, transcribed and performed on harpsichord by Dario Carpanese.

Formats and editions

• CD — CVLD333CD
• Hi-Res WAV file 176.4kHz · 24bit — CVLD333

Musicians

Dario Carpanese — harpsichord and transcription

Recording and production

Original 176.4 kHz · 24-bit recording at Studio Rosso, Trebaseleghe, Italy, on 26 and 27 March 2021.

Production: Velut Luna
Executive and musical production: Marco Lincetto
Recording, mix, mastering and editing: Marco Lincetto
Cover illustration: Giulia Pierobon
Photography: Nina Marranconi
Design and layout: L’Image

Track listing

Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major BWV 1007 (19:11)
01 - Prélude, 3:15  /  02 - Allemande,   5:35  /  03 - Courante, 2:27  /  04 - Sarabande, 2:32 
05 - Menuet I & II, 3:52  /  06 - Gigue, 1:30
 
Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor BWV 1008 (21:05)
07 - Prélude, 4:08  /  08 - Allemande, 4:30  /  09 - Courante, 2:14  /  10 - Sarabande, 3:59 
11 - Menuet I & II, 3:19  /  12 - Gigue, 2:55                                                                                                                                                                                  
Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major BWV 1009 (22:54)
13 - Prélude, 4:28  /  14 - Allemande, 5:07  /  15 - Courante, 3:04  /  16 - Sarabande, 3:18
17 - Bourrée I & II, 3:39  /  18 - Gigue, 3:18
 
Tot. Time: 63:15

Critical notes

Transcription is a compositional practice that has accompanied the history of music for several centuries. While the 16th century saw the flourishing of the first lute tablatures of vocal pieces, by the 18th century, it had established itself as a true genre, increasingly in vogue and demand. The master and model of this art is undoubtedly Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), who dedicated his entire musical output to transcription. In his youthful years in Weimar, to meet the demands of a court particularly fascinated by Italian taste, he transcribed numerous Concertos, giving rise to new and very interesting keyboard solo pages. In Leipzig, several Violin Concertos were arranged for harpsichord, probably to enrich the repertoire of the Collegium Musicum, of which Bach held artistic direction. Entire Cantatas changed text and purpose in an exercise of the highest musical craftsmanship, dictated by contingent needs, but conducted with such art and skill as to make these reworkings appear as entirely new works. The Six Cello Suites, the protagonists of this recording, never found editorial light in the form of a transcription by the author himself, while the Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, which can be considered their sisters, were extensively reworked by Bach himself and transformed into various versions. Furthermore, thanks to the testimony of two of Bach's contemporary musicians, we know that the composer himself performed these pieces on the harpsichord and clavichord: while the organist Jacob Adlung (1699-1762), in describing the Sonatas and Partitas, emphasizes the fact that "they can also be performed on the harpsichord," Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-1774) assures us that "the composer himself often played them on the clavichord and added the harmony he deemed necessary."
The practice of transcription reveals itself as an excellent and unparalleled key to understanding the compositional thought of the author of the transcribed work: more than a mere exercise in style, it is to be considered a true art that allows access to the essence of musical discourse, freeing oneself from the automatic gestures derived from the technique of one's instrument. One of the images that best describes this type of experience is that of entering a craftsman's workshop, observing and absorbing the technical secrets of the trade, and then working together on the same project. Transcription therefore offers us the possibility to actively dialogue with the great masters of the past and to refine our sensibility and our thoughts around the aesthetics of a specific historical period.
Initially, reworking one of the most performed and appreciated masterpieces of Bach's entire output presented me with numerous questions, which were gradually resolved following an adequate analytical study of Bach's own harpsichord transcriptions of his own compositions and those of others. Contrary to what was initially expected on this journey, the greatest difficulty was not being able to concretely produce something from the original material, but finding the strength to choose a definitive version by selecting from the numerous interpretive possibilities offered by the Suites themselves. Occasionally, when compiling this transcription, I found myself faced with dozens of alternatives for the same musical passage and had to choose, from time to time, whether to prioritize coherence with J. S. Bach's keyboard output, absolute fidelity to the original material, adherence to the sonic rendering of the cello version, hand comfort, stylistic uniformity of writing for each individual dance, and other needs that spontaneously arise from confronting this particular type of compositional practice. In conclusion, it can be stated that the choices made during the transcription process were always dictated by the need to obtain a result as close as possible to the German composer's harpsichord output and rejected any attempt to modernize the transcribed work.

Dario Carpanese

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