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Sonatas for Viola da Gamba & Harpsichord BWV 1027-1029
General Discussions - Part 1 |
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Alessandrini/Pandolfo |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (December 30, 2002):
< - Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord with Paolo Pandolfo and Rinaldo Alessandrini (Harmonia Mundi 1955218, a midprice 2002 reissue) >
I've had this for a couple months, but I don't think I or anyone else have mentioned this disc all year. I found some comments in the archives from 2+ years ago, before I was signed up here, and that's before this disc was reissued.
This recording is a delight. And I already had at least a dozen others of these works, so I don't know what possessed me to pick this up when I saw it in a shop, except for being midprice (everybody likes a bargain) and having liked Pandolfo's playing elsewhere. I've also liked most of Alessandrini's playing and conducting elsewhere. I had a little trepidation here because he sometimes has the Koopman tendency (fill the music with loud ornamental graffiti)...and Koopman was his teacher. But hey, midprice.
And it's stunning. They set the mood from the very first note, and keep it up. There is an uncommon stillness here, calm rightness. I half-expected Pandolfo to play with his muscular drive, as he often does in his Forqueray set. But no, he plays with remarkable restraint and grace.
And, in the other 2/3 of the music, Alessandrini is the star here. These really are 2/3 harpsichord pieces and only 1/3 viola da gamba, and I have to agree with the harpsichordist's approach to really enjoy a recording of these. He does it. On the long sustained notes he simply plays the note and trusts the listener's ear to carry it through, rather than filling the quietness with noisy trills to keep the pitches going. He does ornament here and there, but it always sounds vocally conceived and spontaneous rather than contrived. It's beautiful, and never overdone. I needn't have worried so much.
I have both the Koopman/Savall recordings, and (as I mentioned) at least a dozen others. But this one by Alessandrini and Pandolfo is the one I listen to most for joy. It's as if they're singing their lines with the greatest of ease.
(No, I haven't heard Céline Frisch's yet.)
The filler of Pandolfo's solo rendition of 1011/995 is also gorgeous. I haven't bothered to compare it closely with his own remake (in the cello suites set). I don't care to compare it with anything, I just listen to it for itself and marvel in the beauty of the playing. |
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Riccardo Nughes wrote (December 30, 2002):
<< - Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord with Paolo Pandolfo and Rinaldo Alessandrini (Harmonia Mundi 1955218, a midprice 2002 reissue) >>
< I've had this for a couple months, but I don't think I or anyone else have mentioned this disc all year. >
I bought it this year and it became my "reference" recording (even if I'm not convicted by the Pandolfo transcription). Really great playing from Alessandrini here. |
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Matthew Neugebauer wrote (December 31, 2002):
[To Riccardo Nughes] Just wondering-what instrument does Pandolfo play in this recording? |
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Thomas Radleff wrote (December 31, 2002):
< just wondering-what instrument does Pandolfo play in this recording? >
viole de gambe " attribuée à N. Bertrand, Paris c. 1700 "
Alessandrini´s harpsichord by Bruce Kennedy, 1991, "d´après Ruckers". |
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A question (gamba sonatas) |
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Alpha H. Walker wrote (January 7, 2003):
During the recent discussion about best recordings of the year, several people mentioned a recording of the Gamba Sonatas. Could someone plese remind me which one it is? Some of my email files became corrupt and i lost a bunch of messages. I know this recording is a very recent release, perhaps even not yet released in North America. I had it ordered at Tower but they cancelled the order.
I would really appreciate this information if someone remembers what recording it is.
Thanks! |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (January 7, 2003):
[To Alpha Walker] R. Alessandrini and P Pandolfo. It's a budget priced reissue from Harmonia Mundi. I saw it for $5.98 again a few days ago at the local shop where I bought mine. |
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Craig Schweickert wrote (January 7, 2003):
[To Alpha Walker] Sonates pour viole de gambe et clavecin, BWV 1027-1029 plus the Suite pour viole de gambe seule en ré mineur, Pandolfo's transcription/arrangement of the fifth cello suite (BWV 1011) and the lute suite (BWV 995) Paolo Pandolfo, viole de gambe (attribuée à N. Bertrand, Paris, c.1700) Rinaldo Alessandrini, clavecin Bruce Kennedy, 1991 (d'après Ruckers)
The catalogue number of my version, a 1999 reissue that was part of the Harmonia Mundi Bach Edition, is HMX 2955218. The orignal release was issued in 1995. |
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Alpha Walker wrote (January 8, 2003):
[To Bradley Lehman & Craig Schweiscker] Many thanks to Brad and Craig for promptly answering my question! |
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Gamba sonatas/organ |
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Julian Sguera wrote (January 31, 2003):
I recently came across a recording of the Bach gamba sonatas on classicalarchives.com in which the keyboard instrument is an organ. Does anyone know what merit this practice has from a historical perspective?
Has anyone heard a similar rendition and if, what are your opinions?
Thanks for the input. |
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Donald Satz wrote (January 31, 2003):
[To Julian Sguera] I don't know what recording Julian is referring to, but I have one on organ from Sony Vivarte; the performers are Anner Bylsma on cello piccolo and Bob van Asperen on a trunk organ.
In a sense, the question of the merit of using an organ in the Gamba Sonatas is no more applicable than the merit of using a harpsichord. I know of another recording of these Sonatas on BIS that uses a tangent piano.
There apparently isn't any firm evidence concerning the intent or instructions of Bach. In Bylsma's liner notes, he comments that BWV 1027 was in its original form likely for two violins and bass continuo, BWV 1028 was a trio sonata for organ that later was arranged for gamba and harpsichord, and BWV 1029 an orchestral piece given its similarity to the 3rd Brandenburg Concerto.
As Bylsma goes to pains to point out, the larger issue concerns musicality with Bylsma feeling that the organ does the best job of insuring a good balance among the three voices.
Having heard these works with harpsichord, tangent piano, and trunk organ, I find that each is appropriate depending on the artistry of the performer. I didn't care for the Bylsma disc, but it has nothing to do with the use of organ - Bylsma just isn't energetic enough for my tastes. |
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Julian Sguera wrote (January 31, 2003):
[To Donald Satz] Thank you Donald for your insightful comments. The recording I was referring to is on the website classicalarchives.com and the gamba player is named Kirill Rodin. If you are a member you can download the recordings in mp3 format. If not, I think you can stream them. I think it's a very good site for those not too familiar with classical music to gain exposure. I like it because there are many works from little known composers that are presented as MIDI files, so I can check out a piece before I invest the money for a recording, and also expose myself to music I haven't heard before. Thanks again. |
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Viola da gamba sonatas BWV 1027-9 |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (June 23, 2004):
Leila Batarseh wrote:
< Thanks Johan, these are good suggestions for me too, because I only have one receach of these. And I've been wondering about that Perl/Behringer disc because I'm not so thrilled with my gamba sonatas (Pandolfo and Alessandrini) so I'd be happy to have another. >
Some of my favorites are by Dreyfus/Haugsand, W Kuijken/Leonhardt, ter Linden/Bouman (in the MAK boxed set), and the two sets by Savall/Koopman. Not sure if all of those are still available. Those, and Bylsma playing micro-cello with van Asperen at the organ; and Wispelwey's set with various accompaniments and other transcriptions. And, of course, the totally off-the-wall rendition by Rose/Gould: a riveting and pointillistic remake of the music, a must-hear (although it has nothing at all to do with Baroque styles)...delightful. And Pablo Casals with Baumgartner.
But, I do like Pandolfo/Alessandrini very much, and frankly I listen to that one now more than the others. Alessandrini grabs me from the first note by not playing a trill, and I find his phrasing throughout the performance captivating (Pandolfo being very good, too...). Given that these pieces are 2/3 harpsichord and only 1/3 viola da gamba, go with a harpsichordist whose playing you like.... Plus, it's interesting to compare Pandolfo's filler of his solo suite transcription with his later remake of all of them, for Glossa.
Don't miss Dreyfus' written analysis of 1029 in his book Bach and the Patterns of Invention, chapter "The Status of a Genre". He shows especially how Bach has blended the Italian and French styles by superimposing them.
Another nice recording of 1027, but probably long gone, was the one by the Aulos Ensemble (with Richard Taruskin playing viola da gamba). They arranged it together with Bach's own remake (1039, for two flutes), having the viola da gamba play its line of 1027 and a flute play the other one, and then cello and harpsichord playing continuo from the 1039 figures. The difference of timbre and octave here really helps the lines to stand out from one another, clearly. That set inspired my college roommate to make his own arrangement that we played on one of his recitals, on guitar and harpsichord: loads of fun.
There's yet another arrangement of this same piece (sonata in G, 1027/39) from the Bach circle: for solo organ. It was arranged by one of Bach's pupils or sons, I don't remember the details exactly. I don't remember ever seeing or hearing a recording of that, yet, either; anybody? The score is in A-R Editions volume 69 of "Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era" series, published c1992. The ISBN is 0895792699 (looking it up from the catalog of the library where I saw it). As I recall from a quick read-through some years ago, it's a pretty straightforward transcription simply giving the two flute parts to manuals and the bass to the pedals...nothing exceptional (except for being good music to begin with, of course). |
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Leila Batarseh wrote (June 23, 2004):
[To Bradley Lehman] The problem with you, Brad, is that you're always doubling my list of cds to investigate! Seriously, thanks for all these suggestions, I didn't know about a bunch of them. I acquired the MAK box a couple of months ago but I haven't had a chance yet to listen to everything in it, and I'd actually forgotten the gamba sonatas were in there. I'll be sure to go back to the Pandolfo/Alessandrini set again too. It was one of the first baroque recordings I bought when I got interested in this stuff a few years ago, and it may very well be one of those things that I just wasn't ready for yet. It does take awhile to learn how to listen. |
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Hille Perl - viola da gamba |
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Jan Hanford wrote (August 22, 2004):
I just got a lovely recording by Hille Perl:
"... per la viola da gamba"
on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1999
She plays solo cello suite BWV 1011 which is truly amazing on the viola da gamba. Also included are Trio Suite BWV 1025 and Viola Da Gamba Sonata BWV 1029. She plays with other musicians that include baroque lute, double harp, violin and viola da gamba continuo.
The lack of harpsichord is a nice change; using other instruments for continuo creates a consistenly mellow sound. It also sets this recording apart since there are so many of these works, and so many that sound the same.
Highly recommended. |
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Matthew Neugebauer wrote (August 23, 2004):
Jan Hanford wrote:
< and Viola Da Gamba Sonata BWV 1029. >
doesn't this have a written-out keyboard part? How was this managed without a keyboard? |
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Jan Hanford wrote (August 23, 2004):
[To Matthew Neugebauer] The harpsichord part appears to be shared between the violin and second viola da gamba, with the baroque lute and double harp filling in as continuo. It's great. |
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Matthew Neugebauer wrote (August 23, 2004):
[To Jan Hanford] hmm sounds interesting! |
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Michele Bisset wrote (August 23, 2004):
[To Matthew Neugebauer] Bach's music lends it self so well to innovative arrangments, my self and a friend are working on some arrangements for cello and lute which sound quite well. |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (August 23, 2004):
[To Jan Hanford, in response to her original message] Samples: Amazon.de
Looks like an album I should pick up sometime; thanks for mentioning it. But the keyboard parts are 2/3 of the music! To do the opposite arrangement here, why doesn't somebody simply keep the keyboard and give the string part to a separate player on another keyboard? That's basically what one of Bach's students did with the G major sonata 1027 for vdg/hpsi, onto the two manuals and pedal of an organ or a pedal harpsichord....
Brad Lehman (fond of pulling single lines out of organ pieces and giving them to the trumpet) |
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Roy Johansen wrote (August 23, 2004):
[To Bradley Lehman] --But it should make for a very interesting voice separation (not that the cello/harpsichord sonatas are among the hardest to "decipher", even in their original form). Wouldn't it be kind of like Joel Spiegelman's Goldbergs, which, however "perverted", I know that you like, Brad?
I haven't heard the Perl recording, but your posts certainly made me curious about it.
Equally perverted,
Roy |
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Sonatas for viola da gamba |
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Paul Dirmeikis wrote (October 9, 2004):
I'm listening right now to the 3 Sonatas for viola da gamba by Bylsma and van Asperen (Sony Vivarte SK 45945), that I borrowed at my public library. It's the first time I hear an organ instead of a harpichord in this work (in the booklet, it's called a "trunk organ"). It's amazing how beautiful it sounds ! I find the marriage between the two instruments much more moving, intimate and harmonious than with a harpsichord.
Does someone know if the 6 Sonatas for violin have ever been recorded with an organ instead of a harpichord ? |
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Gabriel Jackson wrote (October 9, 2004):
Paul Dirmeikis writes:
"Does someone know if the 6 Sonatas for violin have ever been recorded with an organ instead of a harpichord ?"
On John Holloway and Davitt Moroney's recording of violin sonatas (Virgin Veritas) they use an organ in the two sonatas with continuo (BWV 1021 and 1023) but harpischord in the violin and keyboard sonatas (BWV 1014-1019) |
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Charles Francis wrote (October 9, 2004):
[To Gabriel Jackson] Thank you for this! Samples can be found at:Amazon.de
I am not unsurprisethat a keyboard player of Moroney's stature should step outside the box. Moreover Disk 1, Number 5, for example, has obvious advantages on the organ. Of course, the same can also be said for certain pieces of the Well Tempered Clavier. |
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Bach's Viola da Gamba (VDGB) correction |
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William Rowland (Ludwig) wrote (January 14, 2006):
Teddy Kaufman wrote (May 13, 2005):
"The Viola da Gamba (VDGB) gained extensive popularity during the Baroque , especially in Italy, France, England, Spain and Germany. Over 9000 musical pieces were composed for this magnificent string instrument .
Bach composed the 3 Sonatas for VDGB and Harpsichord - BWV 1027 - 1029 ***, which added a remarkable delightedness and beauty to the VDGB lovers. To my modest knowledge and as far as I could recall, the VDGB has seldom been employed in JSB vocal works.
I wonder if Bach deliberately ignored this rich and versatile instrument or, whether it did not "match" with the orchestration of his Cantatas, Passions and Oratorios and hence in had been put in the back."
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Somehow I missed this post. Mr. Kaufman apparently does not understand that the Cello was not a common instrument and some cast doubt that it existed at that time but was instead the Gamba. That being true; Bach did write for the Gamba in fact there are sonatas, and cantatas in which he uses it. The Romantics would have us to believe otherwise in their vulgarly loud brazen ways. Many a Gamba was rebuilt into Celli when the preference for Celli, which have greater carrying power than Gambas, became the rage Just as many a Viola d'amour was converted into a simple Viola when it's players got tired of the failure of it's tuning mechanizms.
Unfortunately the Romantics have spread much ignorance and distortions about about the Baroque age in their misconceptions, self-grandizement, thier arrogant snobbishness and presumptiousness of their superior music literacy so that we hear Albert Schweitzer and others writing more from their imaginations than from actual fact. We hear from this age that the Harpsichord was an inferior instrument and that Bach wrote for the Piano as he also wrote for the Piano. Those of us who know better do not buy that but try to sell that to a rabid Glenn Gould fan and you will starve.
The facts are these: The Harpsichord was not an inferior instrument and managed to survived in Spain long after it was forgotten and thrown into the fires of the French Revolution as a hated symbol of the Aristocrazy.
Even Wanda Landowska was very confused along with Pleyel when she resurrected the Harpsichord to it's present status. The modern Harpsichord is more like the pre-1780 instrument than Landowska's Pleyel. I have played those kind of instruments and they certainly are no fun. I recently was in Savannah, Georgia at Christ Church (famous Church that John Wesley was Priest of) and had the pleasure of playing their Sabathil---which is just as easy to play as any other keyboard instrument. It is now going on some 40 years and still in the pristine shape it arrrive at Christ Church.
The Harpsichord is in fact along with the Clavichord an ideal home instrument for those living in apartments with thin walls as it seemed that Beethoven was always winding up with. While the piano certainly can put out FFF sounds but it does not blend well with Orchestra or other instruments as the Harpsichord does.
Bach never saw or heard of the Piano until he was almost completely blind when he visited Potsdam and he certainly never played a Piano until perhaps then. Shortly after this visit to see and hear Pianos that his son took him to see; Bach had surgery on his eyes again and died. He died from the surgery and medical practices of that time not old age as commonly thought and for you Americans out there George Washington died the from the same thing---they bled him to death. Bach may have been aware that the Piano existed in Italy but it was only around 1750 that they began to become common.
Likewise for the Cello except that the Cello was in existence in Italy supposedly from around 1600 onward which puts it into Bach's life time--if we can believe what we read about it. I suspect that the Amati and other Celli that have survived were really Gambas at one time that have been re-worked to make them into Celli. Celli were the exception, in it's early days, to be found in an orchestral group. The Gamba was the workhorse of the Orchestra/Sring section just as the Blockflute was for the flute section with the modern flute (Flauto traverso) rarely appearing.
The Cello took over the Gambas role around 1750 with Haydn, the Esterhazy's and the Classical age as one of it's chief propnents in Europe. Like the Harpsichord and Clavichord the Gamba is a nice home instrument for those living in apartment spaces and does not have the loudness or carrying power of the Cello---which is what attracted the romantics and the Classicists to the Cello. The Classicist did not kill the Gamba entirely (the Romantics did)---it survived in the form or the Baryton which was played by Prince Esterhazy for which Haydn wrote a very long list of almost unplayed works today.
The parts for Gamba and Cello were in the beginning not very interesting. They plodded along until Haydn began making better use of the Cello.
The same happened to the double bass which was originally the Violone. The Violone had just about as much power as the Gamba and did not try to take over the ensemble as does the Modern Contrabass. If you have ever heard Bach played with the modern Contrabasse; you will note the lugubriousness of the sounds that seem to poison the ensemble with this sound and muddies the waters so to speak because of it's tendency to take over the emsemble no matter how softly it is played. Between using the Contrabasse and doing without it in my ensembles---I will choose to leave it out. However, if I have a real honest to goodness Violone ----I might allow it.
The Violone had nothing to play except what the Gambas played. This practice continued until the Contrabasse took over the Gamba's role. Even then it still plodded along with it's rather boring bass. That all changed when the Romantics took over. Beethoven has what for that age was some shocking parts for the Contrabass--they sang solo and they also had very intresting parts ---no more the sleepy plodding along. |
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BWV 1027 [was: BWV 1014 - 1019 with organ] |
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Thomas Braatz wrote (July 17, 2007):
Bradley Lehman wrote:
>>Don't miss the classic 1990 recording of the three viola da gamba sonatas, BWV 1027-1029, with Anner Bylsma playing violoncello piccolo and Bob van Asperen playing organ!<<
Again, there is virtually no doubt that Bach, at the end of his life, intended these to be played by a viola da gamba and harpsichord, possibily because he had a very good viola da gamba player at his disposal. We even have an autograph set of parts for BWV 1027 with his own title "Sonata à Cembalo è Viola da Gamba" [note which instrument is placed first!]
Nevertheless, Bach experts have come to the tentative conclusion that, although Bach wrote this music down (the original score is missing) sometime during the 1740s, we have evidence of its earlier existence (or at least some of the mvts.)in the form of a trio sonata for 2 traversi and continuo (BWV 1039) not autograph, possibly dated 1726 based on the watermark involved but there is yet another version as an organ trio (Anhang II, BWV 1027/1a,2a,4a)! Most likely this music was first composed for yet another combination of instruments in the Köthen period. One look at the opening of BWV 1027/1 with the harpsichord holding onto a long dotted whole note for 18 (or 6 very) slow beats makes quite clear that the choice of the harpsichord with probably the only option being to play a very long trill on this note is not the best choice for this note (and this opening of the mvt.) which could be played much more expressively on a string or wind in. As an instrumental trio with a violin playing one of the flute parts from BWV 1039, a cello playing the viola da gamba part from BWV 1027) and the keyboard instrument using the continuo part from BWV 1039, this music can possibly sound better than the final version (BWV 1027) that Bach had copied out late in his lifetime. Unfortunately we have no evidence for the original orchestration of this trio, but under the circumstances and knowing that Bach did have a yet earlier version than any of those that do exist, we can keep trying to find out by experimentation which way this music might sound even better than it already does. The notion that Bach's final version of any work that he returned to repeatedly is the best is not one that I can easily agree with. This, of course, depends on the type of music it is: is it for solo keyboard or is it for an ensemble. There are numerous instances with Bach's cantatas where the final version in a repeat performance taking place years after its composition is a step down from the original conception. However, even with such a step down, Bach's music still remains great music, a fact of which Bach must have been aware as he attempted to salvage the possibility of a repeat performance of one of his works by taking into account the talents of the musicians with whom he worked. |
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Continue on Part 2 |
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