Christmas Festival. Bach and 4 Pianos (Jurmala)

Reinis Zariņš, piano
Daumants Liepiņš, piano
Sten Lassmann, piano
Sten Heinoja, piano
Anna Duczmal-Mroz, conductor
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra

Programme:

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Concerto for two pianos in C minor, BWV 1060

I. Allegro

II. Largo ovvero Adagio

III. Allegro

Concerto for two pianos in C major, BWV 1061

I. Allegro

II. Adagio ovvero Largo

III. Fuga. Vivace

Concerto for two pianos in C minor, BWV 1062

I. Allegro

II. Andante e piano

III. Allegro assai

Intermission

Concerto for three pianos in D minor, BWV 1063

I. Allegro

II. Alla Siciliana

III. Allegro

Concerto for three pianos in C major, BWV 1064

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Allegro

Concerto for four pianos in D minor, BWV 1065

I. Allegro

II. Largo

III. Allegro

A metaphysical order of the Universe seems to be woven into the constructions of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sound systems. It is both noble and serenely enlightened as well as aristocratically danceable and energetically affirming. His works show a wide range of human emotions – jubilance, joy, zest for life, as well as sadness, solemnity and deep piety.

The legendary 20^th century conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein has said: “For Bach, all music is religious and the creation of it was a kind of worship. Every note was dedicated to God and nothing else.”

Bach composed all his concertos for piano (at that time for harpsichord) between 1729 and 1741, when he took over the leadership of the so-called Collegium music evenings.  They took place at Cafe Zimmermann in Leipzig, which belonged to the owner of the coffee house, Gottfried Zimmermann. Twice a week, the Collegium Musicum, an ensemble of professional musicians and students, gathered there for joint musical evenings, where Bach was responsible for composing a new music.

Bach was also the first to create a harpsichord concerto and give the instrument a solo role. Until then, the harpsichord was mainly an accompanying element in the ensemble. The concertos for two, three and four pianos (except BWV 1061) are, according to historians, Bach’s own recompositions of the composer’s previously written instrumental concertos for violin and oboe. It’s true that most concertos of these instruments have not survived.

Concerto for two pianos in C minor BWV 1060 is a polyphonically dense opus with a richness of sonorousness. It is believed to be a lost transcription of a D minor concerto for two violins.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in C major BWV 1061 is a sunny and vital composition in which the two solo instruments are constantly in a close and intense dialogue, playing out sixteenth-note strings. It is interesting that Bach entrusted the most difficult tasks for pianists to the left hand, which plays the bass line. This is the only concerto that is not a recomposition, and was originally composed for two harpsichords.

The Concerto for two pianos in C minor, BWV 1062, is a recomposition of the popular Concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV 1043. Like with other recompositions of violin concertos, it is transposed a second lower to better suit the range of the harpsichord. The composition is dated around the 1730, when Bach wrote harpsichord concertos for himself and his sons. They played them at the Collegium Musicum music evenings.

In the Concerto for three pianos in D minor, BWV 1063, Bach actively played with the relations between melody and polyphony. Sometimes all the soloists play the same melody, but at other times everyone goes their own way. Bach achieved the effect of all three soloists sounding like one combined instrument, even when in a polyphonic relationship, playing distinct and independent parts. That’s true, the most virtuosic part in the first and second parts is entrusted to the first soloist, but in the third part everyone gets to do some expressive solo gesture. There is evidence in music history that this Bach’s concerto was actively played on the piano in the 19^th century. The most remarkable time was when Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt and Ferdinand Hiller played three solo parts.

Concerto for three pianos in C major BWV 1064 has been called one of the composer’s most impressive instrumental compositions by Bach’s biographer Philip Spita. But conductor and harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen believes that this is Bach’s most interesting concerto, and that it has far more conversation than any other Bach’s concerto. All the soloists mostly act as an entirety, and the small solo passages only have the role of sonic effect. In the last part, Bach entrusted the musicians with real solo episodes, where we can hear arpeggios, moderate bass line with a moving accompaniment and dramatic chromaticism.

The Concerto for four pianos in D minor, BWV 1065 is the only one not based on Bach’s own music. It is Vivaldi’s Concerto for four violins, Op. 3 (L’estro armonico) No.  10 recomposition,  Vivaldi’s collection of 12 concertos, L’Estro Armonico, gained popularity throughout Europe, including Germany, in the first half of the 18^thcentury. Bach was well known for this collection of Vivaldi’s concertos, Op. 3, and transcribed several concertos from it.  In his Concerto for four pianos, Bach added even more magnificent ornamentation, inner voices, accompaniment and rhythm to Vivaldi’s original material, giving the opus a special luxury and richness of texture.