© Jenny Carboni
The Vespers at San Vitale
Harmonia Ludens
Bachian dialogues
Harmonia Ludens
Rocco Malagoli violin
Matteo Montanari cello
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata in sol maggiore BWV 1021
Adagio
Vivace
Largo
Presto
Fuga in sol minore BWV 578
Invenzioni a due voci BWV 772, 785, 777, 779
Aria dalla Suite n. 3 BWV 1068
Canone alla ottava dall’Arte della fuga BWV 1080
Toccata e fuga in re minore BWV 565
The concert aims at reinterpreting Bach’s scores into violin-cello transcriptions, with a focus on some of the musical forms that best characterized his music.
The programme opens with the Sonata in G major BWV 1021, which shows Bach’s versatility in the four canonical movements of the baroque sonata. Then comes the Fugue in G minor BWV 578, originally scored for the organ but proposed here by two bowed string instruments that manage to preserve its rich, dense polyphony. The four Inventions were also scored for the keyboard (the harpsichord), but their bare structure in two voices makes them perfect for any combination of two instruments. A similar transcription of the famous Air from the third Orchestral Suite in D major tries to preserve polyphony causing no damage to the celestial melody of the violin. The concert continues with the canone all’ottava, which, like the entire Art of the Fugue, has no specifically notated instrumentation, as if to confirm its absolute grandeur. And finally, the programme features the famous Toccata e Fugue in D minor BWV 565, scored for organ and arranged for violin and cello for this occasion.
