Harpsichord Concertos | Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews +

J S Bach: Harpsichord Concertos
BWV 1052, 1054, 1055 & 1059
Steven Devine, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Resonus RES 10318. 63’30

This very welcome addition to the world of Bach recordings features three well-known harpsichord concertos plus what is, in effect, an entirely new concerto. Steven Devine’s programme essay sets out the often complicated history of the music played. The manuscript of these concertos is in Bach’s own hand. It contains seven concertos and nine bars of a D minor concerto, BWV 1059. There is strong evidence that only the first six concertos were intended as a set, with Bach’s traditional sign-off (Finis. S. D. Gl.) appearing at the end of the sixth concerto. The following BWV 1058 seems to have been an unsuccessful attempt at converting a violin concerto into a harpsichord concerto. The few bars of a D minor concerto (given the BWV number of 1059 despite its brevity) are of particular interest in this recording.

Continue reading →

JS Bach: Harpsichord Concertos Vol 1
Fabio Bonizzoni, La Risonanza
Challenge Classics CC72773. 63’07

Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052
Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1053
Concerto No. 4 in A Major, BWV 1055
Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056

This is the first volume in a series of recordings of Bach’s harpsichord concertos from La Risonanza and Fabio Bonizzoni. La Risonanza play one-to-a-part with just two violins, viola, cello and violone. The pieces date from the 1730s and Bach’s time in Leipzig. He directed the Collegium musicum which gave weekly performances at the Café Zimmermann. We know that in 1733 a new harpsichord arrived and it seems this was the impetus for these concertos. Several of them draw from earlier material, the opening D Minor Concerto having a history going back about 20 years before the autograph copy used for this recording.

Continue reading →