Bach: Complete Concertos For Solo Harpsichord / Elizabeth Farr

$29.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
November 17, 2009
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      BACH, J.S.
    • PERFORMER
      Elizabeth Farr
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      November 17, 2009
    • UPC
      747313200672
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      8572006-07
    • LABEL
      Naxos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      2
    • GENRE
      Instrumental
    Works ⌄

    1. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    2. II. Larghetto

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    3. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    4. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    5. II. Largo

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    6. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    7. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    8. II. Largo

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    9. III. Gigue: Presto

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    10. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    11. II. Largo

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    12. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    13. I. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    14. II. Largo

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    15. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    16. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    17. II. Largo

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    18. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    19. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    20. II. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    21. III. Giga

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    22. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    23. II. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    24. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    25. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    26. II. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    27. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    28. I. [Adagio] - Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    29. II. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    30. III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    31. IV. Andante

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    32. V. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    33. VI. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    34. I. [Andante]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    35. II. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    36. III. Presto

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    37. I. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    38. II. Vivace

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    39. III. [Adagio]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    40. IV. Prestissimo

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    41. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    42. II. Adagio - III. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    43. IV. Allegro

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    44. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    45. II. Adagio e affettuoso

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    46. III. Allegro assai

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    47. I. [Grave]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    48. II. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    49. III. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    50. IV. [Vivace]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    51. I. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    52. II. Adagio

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    53. III. [Allegro]

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    54. Prelude

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr

    55. Fugue

      Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

      Performer: Elizabeth Farr




BACH Concertos for Solo Harpsichord: BWV 972-93, 975-76, 978, 980 (after Vivaldi); 974 (after A. Marcello); 979 (after Torrelli); 981 (after B. Marcello); 977, 983, 986, 985 (after Telemann); 982, 984, 987 (after Ernst). Prelude and Fugue in a, BWV 894 • Elizabeth Farr (hpd) • NAXOS 8572006-07 (2 CDs: 150:35)


This recording hit me like a ton of bricks in three ways. First, there is the music itself, not actually by J.S. Bach but rather transcriptions he made for harpsichord of concertos by Vivaldi, Torelli, Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello, Johann Ernst, Telemann, and unknown composers, in addition to his own Prelude and Fugue in A Minor. Second, there is the extraordinarily high quality of Elizabeth Farr’s performances, dramatic, nuanced, and extraordinarily colorful. And third, there is the sound of the instrument, a rare Baroque-era harpsichord with a 16’ set of strings as well as damper and sustain pedals. When this CD first started pouring out of my speakers, I thought I was listening to Wanda Landowska in digital stereo. It turns out that such fabulous beasts did exist, after all, in the Baroque era, in fact from as far back as the 16th century. Well, well, well. It turns out that Landowska, who has been lambasted for more than half a century for her “grotesque,” “gargantuan-sounding” instruments, was on the right track after all. Not having an authentic instrument to play, she simply had Pleyel create one for her. Granted, it had a grand piano frame because she was a touring musician and even a newly minted harpsichord with 16’ strings would have gotten pummeled on trains, but the sound was not that far removed from this.


Farr is also an interesting annotator. In order to save space I refer you to her liner notes, which explain why Bach transcribed 22 concertos by primarily Italian composers for harpsichord (six of them are for two harpsichords). The key to the project was young Prince Johann Ernst, the nephew of Duke Wilhelm, who in fact composed three of the concertos transcribed here. The young prince, an outstanding musician, wanted them to play on his instrument. Bach was willing to oblige for one particular reason: By writing out these concertos he could study their composing methods, and apply what he learned to his own “Italianate” music.


Farr’s playing is in the style of Leonhardt and Kipnis, using a great deal of rubato—some of it obvious, some of it quite subtle—to break up the very regular rhythms. I love this style. It is antithetical to British harpsichordists like Trevor Pinnock (whom I also highly admire), but very much in line with the type of “hesitating” style that Bach himself later employed in so many solo harpsichord works, a style he undoubtedly picked up from his friend and older colleague Buxtehude. She also plays very dramatically—heavy chording and rich textures when emulating the full tutti of the orchestral passages, lighter and airier in slow movements and when emulating solo passages. This took me some getting used to, but I came to enjoy this approach.


Some listeners may feel cheated that only one work (the Prelude and Fugue) is actually by Bach, but as a compendium of Baroque style transcribed by a musical genius, played to perfection and stunningly recorded, this set is very highly recommended.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley