There was great excitement in Weimar, when Prince Johann Ernst returned in 1713 from the Netherlands, where he spent a great deal of money getting lots of music copied and bound, including a collection of music by Benedetto Marcello. Bach arranged the string concerto no. 2 from this collection for keyboard, which he probably created to liven up the dinners at the Saxe-Weimar home. This Concerto in C minor BWV 981 is here performed by Olga Pashchenko for All of Bach.
But actually, it was no easy task to arrange the original. Marcello’s original concerto is much simpler than Bach’s arrangement - on paper at least. Melodies are ornamented, and sustained chords are filled out, so that a static keyboard can imitate the inherent movement of a stringed instrument.
Recorded for the project All of Bach on March 4th 2018 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating bit.ly/2uZuMj5.
For the interview with Olga Pashchenko on Concerto in C minor BWV 981 go to • Pashchenko on Bach Con...
For more information on BWV 981 and this production go to allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-981/
All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society / Nederlandse Bachvereniging, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and its guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allo.... For concert dates and further information go to www.bachvereniging.nl/nederla....
Olga Pashchenko, harpsichordist
Harpsichord: Gerard Tuinman 2014 after Silbermann
0:00 Adagio
2:32 Vivace
4:28 [...]
7:22 Prestissimo