# TC Listening Club Part 10: Keyboard Concerto No. 1 (Bach)



## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

This week's work chosen by Merve.

PURCHASE OPTIONS

Here are some available purchasing options. Any additions to this list welcome:

VERSIONS ON PIANO

J.S. Bach: Piano Conceros (Fray, Bremen Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie) (Virgin Classics)
Bach Klavierkonzerte Nos. 1, 2 & 4 (Perahia, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields) (Sony)
Bach: Keyboard Concertos Nos. 1, 4 & 5 (Gould, Bernstein, Colombia SO) (Sony)
JS Bach: Complete Piano Concertos (Won Chang, Camerata Cosovia) (Naxos) *

* No reviews for this on Amazon. One positive review elsewhere that I could find. Used copies selling very cheaply.

VERSIONS ON HARPSICHORD

Bach Harpsichord Concertos Vol. 1 (Various Artists) (Naxos)
J.S. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos (Van Asperen, Melante Amsterdam) (Veritas)
Bach: Complete Harpsichord Concertos (Pinnock, The English Concert) (Decca)

YouTube LINKS

YouTube links for those who require them:

ON HARPSICHORD (Trevor Pinnock, The English Concert)

I.	



II.	



III.	




ON PIANO (J.P. Pommier)






OTHER INFORMATION

(The following notes taken from All Music Guide)

This concerto, composed during Johann Sebastian Bach's Cöthen period, is thought to be based on a lost violin concerto. It is clear from the manuscript notation that the concerto was composed for the two manuals of the harpsichord, but it is frequently performed on the single keyboard of the modern piano. The piece is composed in three movements; the first one was later used by Bach as an organ prelude, and the slow movement became the first chorus of his Cantata No. 146, "Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal."

Like most of Bach's instrumental concertos, this work employs the Italian ritornello form. The ritornello of the first movement is a driving six-bar unison theme whose opening five notes form the foundation for the majority of the movement. The theme's power stems from its ever-expanding leaps and its emphatic closing cadence. Most of the soloist's passages are derived from this theme, but Bach later introduces a chromatic, toccata-like secondary theme for effect. The ritornello immediately gives way to a carefully mapped progression through the neighboring keys, using the dominant minor, the relative major, the relative major of the dominant minor, and so forth. The soloist leads the concerto through sections of contrapuntal and harmonic exploration, interspersed with several varied restatements of the ritornello by the strings. Following an elaborate cadenza by the soloist, the first movement closes with a unison restatement of the ritornello. The slow second movement is in G minor, which is unusual in that most of Bach's concertos and sonatas that begin in a minor key have a second movement in a major key, and vice-versa. Like Bach's two violin concertos, the movement is built on a foundation of a solemn basso ostinato which also serves as the ritornello. The movement's structure is symmetrical, with the first half progressing from G minor to C minor, and then to a B flat major cadence; the progression then retraces its steps, through C minor and again back to G minor. Similarly, the opening and closing statements of the ritornello are both in unison. Throughout the piece, the soloist weaves an increasingly florid melody over the ground bass, adding a lyrical quality to the somber character of the movement. The Allegro finale movement is constructed in a similar manner to the opening movement. In 3/4 time, its opening 12-bar ritornello begins with a downward scale and has a recurring rhythmic figure consisting of two sixteenth notes and an eighth note. In parts of the ritornello, the melody is traded between the bass and treble. The first solo section is a toccata-like figure. The final statement of the ritornello is preceded by a short but elaborate cadenza, as in the first movement.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

UPCOMING

The schedule for the next four Listening Club sessions will be:

PART 11: Relache (Satie) chosen by cwarchc and starting 21/08/12
PART 12: TBC by emiellucifuge before 20/08/12 and starting 28/08/12
PART 13: Symphony No. 5 (Sibelius) chosen by Sonata and starting 04/09/12
PART 14: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (Britten) chosen by Petwhac and starting 11/09/12

OTHER THREADS

You can still participate in past Listening Club threads here:

http://www.talkclassical.com/19793-tc-listening-club-week.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/19883-tc-listening-club-week.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/19986-tc-listening-club-part.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/20078-tc-listening-club-part.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/20189-tc-listening-club-part.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/20318-tc-listening-club-part.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/20413-tc-listening-club-part.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/20541-tc-listening-club-part.html
http://www.talkclassical.com/20697-tc-listening-club-part.html

NOMINATIONS

To sign up and nominate pieces for listening, use the following thread or PM crmoorhead.

http://www.talkclassical.com/19752-listening-club.html

If a member does not nominate a piece before the deadline in the schedule, you will lose your turn and a piece will be selected at random from the list of pieces nominated by other members. Nominations must be available on YouTube.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

An excellent piece (which I know well this time), but I shall listen to it a couple more times again. I was never a fan of the second movement though...


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Any Bach is good for me!  I have the Pinnock version that I got in this:









I am not familiar with it yet as I am still working my way through a large backlog of Bach Keyboard works and concertos, but will post my review later in the week.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

I might use this as an opportunity to get another version of it. Probably a piano one though: I have Glenn Gould for almost all of the concertos, but not this one unfortunately


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

I think I have the Harpsichord one. 
Which one is its number? BWV 1055, 1056, 1057 or 1058?


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

It's BWV 1052.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

crmoorhead said:


> It's BWV 1052.


Does it have a Guitar version too?


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

Arsakes said:


> Does it have a Guitar version too?


I found one on this CD, but I don't think that it is one of the more common transcriptions:









Also a video of the guitar transcription, though I think you said you cannot access YouTube?


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

There is also a guitar transcription on this disc:









Also available on YouTube:

I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegro


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

The English Concert version with Trevor Pinnock, and The Academy of Ancient Music with Christophe Rousset are excellent versions of all the JS Bach harpsichord concertos.


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Fabulous piece of work
It makes you understand why he is reveired so much
A very enjoyable piece.
I have some Bach, I'll be looking to add some more after this:tiphat:


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

crmoorhead said:


> There is also a guitar transcription on this disc:
> 
> View attachment 7003
> 
> ...


I listened to this one.
Very good work. 8.4/10 ... and my favorite movement was the 1st. Maybe if it was for piano it would get higher score from me. Harpsichord and Guitar, made it more like Vivaldi and Corelli works. I prefer 'Classic' approach more than 'Baroque' approach to a piece even in instruments.


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## belfastboy (Aug 3, 2012)

crmoorhead said:


> This week's work chosen by Merve.
> 
> PURCHASE OPTIONS
> 
> ...


Fray version - Excellent I thought...This piece is new to me. I'm loving it....*adds to play list* It's so eloquent and spirited.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

I'm a bit late in posting this, so sorry about that.

Bach's first keyboard (harpsichord) concerto was actually my first piece of Bach when I started listening to Classical music in a serious way. Now I have a recording with George Malcolm and the Stuttgard chamber orchestra, which is perfectly fine, but old-fashioned (non-HIP). Fortunately I am familiar with the Trevor Pinnock one as well, which I prefer, and may well try to get my hands on again. I'm considering getting Glenn Gould as well, but haven't so far.

Despite it being my initial favourite of Bach it has gone down in my favour over time, to the extent that I rarely listened to it, and I am glad this has given me the opportunity to do so again.

The first movement is really excellent. It is in the ABABA form, approximately speaking, which I think is pretty fundamental, if B is the toccata-like material. There's the opening tutti, followed by usual compelling Bachian counterpoint, which is all very interesting. He even gets to show off his harmony in the toccata sections, which are fun. The stroke of genius in this movement for me is the final A when he appears to return to the opening tutti at last (which he hasn't done since the beginning), only to brake off into more general imitation, and only then finally get into a repeat of the opening tutti to round off the movement. Excellent.

The reason I think I went off this piece is the second movement. I have generally considered his second movement's the weakest in his concertos (except the beautiful slow movement of the second keyboard concerto) and this is absolutely a standard one. It starts out with an opening unison melody, a bit like the first movement, except slow of course. However, unlike the first movement, it doesn't seem very melodic, and sounds to me a bit like the infamous composition student trying to craft an interesting melodic line out of mere intervals, without the use of inspiration, particularly when it comes back at the end of the movement. Sorry. Again in the middle, when everything is together in Bach's usual way, if I exert myself, I can see it is very nice and beautiful (contrast to the opening of the movement which I would class as ominous), but it simply doesn't grab - I have to put effort in to appreciate it, rather than it compelling me to do so.

The last movement is fun, and has a good tune I remember I once couldn't get out of my head for weeks. There is an obvious cyclic element with the toccata sections looking back to the first movement, and the structure is similar, with the false recap at the end, and if it is less effective than the first, that is to the exultation of the first, rather than the detriment of the last, it being so exceptional in the former.

Overall a 7.5-8/10, with a first movement of 9/10.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Admittedly I have not been keeping up with listening club lately. Imagine my surprise when coming back to it that I had on my own listened to it just last week. It's a great work. I prefer piano in general, an i'd listened to Andras Schiff's version. I want to try the harpsichord version later this week. I doubt it can reach me the way the piano does, but it will be fun to compare.



Ramako said:


> An excellent piece (which I know well this time), but I shall listen to it a couple more times again. I was never a fan of the second movement though...


Interesting, I am the opposite. I think it's the best movement


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