Bach Partita No.1 in B-flat major, BWV825 || Rachel Naomi Kudo, Piano

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Partita No.1 in B-flat Major, BWV825
Recorded December 21, 2022
0:07 Praeludium
2:07 Allemande
5:24 Corrente
8:19 Sarabande
13:18 Menuet I
14:50 Menuet II
15:38 Menuet I
16:33 Giga
~~
In 1723, Bach arrived in Leipzig to take up the position of Cantor at the Thomas-Schule, a post which carried with it the responsibility for the city's music. It was during his earliest and busiest years there that he embarked on the four volumes of harpsichord and organ music known as the Clavier-Übung ("Keyboard practice"), an ambitious undertaking intended to show, once and for all, his mastery of several important genres. The keyboard dance suite based on the sequence allemande-courante-sarabande-gigue (the Baroque equivalent of the three-movement Classical piano sonata) seemed a logical beginning. To this end, Bach published - at his own expense - six "partitas" or suites, first singly from 1726 to 1730, then all together in 1731 as: "Keyboard Practice / consisting of / Preludes, Allemandes, Courantes, Sarabandes, Gigues, / Minuets, and other Galanteries, / Composed for Music-Lovers for the Refreshment of their Spirits... Opus 1'.
It is difficult to think of a more unlikely Opus 1. Not only are the six Partitas Bach's last words on the suite, surpassing as they do his own "English" and "French" sets in variety, intellectual depth and technical difficulty: they also signal the end of a long and distinguished tradition of elevating a sequence of dances to high art; the suite continued to exist, but in name only. Bach and his contemporaries would unhesitatingly have identified this tradition as French, and indeed some of Bach's earlier suite movements are straightforward imitations of French models.
By the time of the Partitas, however, French influence had combined with many other strands to and form Bach's mature style. Italian versions of the dances had arrived: French gigues were an early casualty, even in their native land, and the fast, exciting corrente threatened the subtler courante (though the presence of a French or Italian dance title is-inevitably-only the roughest guide to Bach's sophisticated versions of these national styles); while in every movement, from the strictest fugue to the simplest melody-and-accompaniment, Bach's German heritage ensured that he rarely stopped writing "proper" counterpoint or abandoned an opening theme.
Partita No.1, the first to appear in print but probably the third in order of composition, was dedicated to Crown Prince Emanuel Ludwig of Anhalt-Cothen, the infant son of Bach's former employer, Prince Leopold. Bach could hardly have presented him with a more suitable piece: here is a pastoral idyll largely undisturbed by angular melody, strict fugue or chromatic harmony. The Praeludium begins with a simple theme based on an ascending scale (though subsequent appearances show that there is an invertible counterpoint even in Arcadia). Arpeggio figures characterise the Allemande and the Corrente, while the serenely beautiful Sarabande has a melodic filigree beneath which the traditional dance rhythm, with its second-beat emphasis, is clearly marked. The witty Giga explores hand-crossing (but not very far: one direction only!): the fun lies in the way the leaping left hand provides both melody and bass while the right hand merely fills in the harmony.
Lucy Carolan
~~
Engineer: Federico Furlanetto
Piano Technician: Massimiliano Pinazzo
~~
🎥 Watch My Other Videos
🎵J.S. Bach Playlist
• Johann Sebastian Bach
🎵 Beethoven Diabelli Variations (LIVE)
• Beethoven Diabelli Var...
🎵 Beethoven Six Bagatelles Op.126 (LIVE)
• Beethoven Six Bagatell...
🎵 Berg Sonata Op.1 (LIVE)
• Berg Sonata, Op.1 (LIV...
🎵 Chopin Playlist
• Frederic Chopin
🎵 Chopin 12 Etudes Op.10 (LIVE)
• Chopin 12 Etudes Op.10...
🎵 Debussy Clair de Lune
• Debussy Clair de Lune ...
🎵 Marc-André Hamelin Suite à l’ancienne (2020)
• Marc-André Hamelin Sui...
🎵Mozart Sonata No.18 K.576
• Mozart Piano Sonata No...
🎵 Franz Schubert Playlist
• Franz Schubert
🎵 Clara Schumann Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann Op.20 (LIVE)
• Clara Schumann Variati...
🎵 Schumann-Liszt Widmung
• Schumann-Liszt Widmung...
🎵 Schumann Carnaval Op.9
• Schumann Carnaval, Op....
🎵 Schumann Arabeske in C major Op.18
• Schumann Arabeske in C...
~~
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/5EfyC…
~~
Instagram: / rachelnaomi…
Facebook Page: / rachelnaomikudo
Twitter: / rachelnaomikudo
~~
Website: www.rachelnaomikudo.com​
~~
#Bach #JSBach #johannsebastianbach #RachelKudo #RachelNaomiKudo #RachelNaomiKudoPiano

[@NurSobahan]

Nice Video🥰🥰

[@RosellaSBrown]

❣❣❣