This Partita in G major, performed here by Elina Albach for All of Bach, is the fifth of a set of six partitas. The piece begins with a movement that Bach called Praeambulum. It is actually a fantasia, a quasi improvised entrée that revolves mainly around simple scales and chords. The unusual title and the musical content make it seem like the start of a musical teaching method. After all, the practice of playing scales also has a history. In Bach’s day, fingering traditionally did not use the thumb, so keyboard players played and phrased scales differently to pianists today. However, this tradition was already changing at the time Bach was composing, and the scales in the first movement of this Partita in G major appear to ask the keyboard player: which fingering should you use?
After the Praeambulum, the other movements demand attention for other aspects of the keyboard player’s fingers. For instance, the Allemande has evenly phrased triplets, and the Corrente and the Tempo di minuetta are studies in broken chords. Moreover, only the slow Sarabande is completely three-part. The Tempo di minuetto is even practically monophonic - no wonder that Robert Schumann used this as teaching material for his daughter Marie. At the end, in the Gigue, a full three-part development returns. And Bach pulls out all the stops for this closing section. After the simplicity of the earlier movements, the Gigue gradually assumes the guise of a three-part fugue with two themes.
Recorded for the project All of Bach on June 2nd 2021 at the Philharmonie, Haarlem. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating bit.ly/3J5uprM.
This recording was made with support of Dr. van Wijk-Bos, in memory of her beloved late husband A. David Bos, who now sings with the heavenly choirs and in his lifetime was a profound admirer of classical music, in particular of J.S. Bach.
For more information on BWV 829 and this production go to www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/...
All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society, 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 on www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allo.... For concert dates and tickets go to www.bachvereniging.nl/en/conc....
Elina Albach, harpsichord
Instrument: Markus Krebs, 2009 after Michael Mietke
0:00 Praeambulum
3:27 Allemande
8:14 Courante
10:22 Sarabande
15:48 Tempo di minuetta
18:05 Passepied
20:01 Gigue