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Bach: Orchestral Suites 2 & 3; Chaconne - Transcribed for Organ / Wolfgang Rübsam
Brilliant Classics

Bach: Orchestral Suites 2 & 3; Chaconne - Transcribed for Organ / Wolfgang Rübsam

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Details

Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach
Artist
Wolfgang Rubsam
Format
CD
Label
Brilliant Classics
Released
Nov 17, 2023
Catalog #
BRI96846
UPC
5028421968469

About

Over the course of more than half a century, Wolfgang Rübsam has consistently brought new insights to bear on the keyboard music of Bach, firstly in sets of the canonic organ music for Philips, then the same for Naxos. In the last few years, his musicianship and understanding of Bach enriched by those decades of experience, he has turned to the harpsichord/piano repertoire for Brilliant Classics. A series of critically acclaimed albums has shed new light on The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas and Toccatas with Rübsam’s performance of them on a lautenwerk – a ‘lute-harpsichord’ with a distinctive chime and colour which Bach himself would have been familiar with. Rübsam now returns to the organ, with new transcriptions and recordings of two Orchestral Suites and Chaconne from the D minor Partita for solo violin. While the Chaconne has attracted transcribers and arrangers ever since the 19th century, drawn magnetically to its evolving variations on a ground bass which accumulate an emotional power unusual even for Bach, the Orchestral Suites are much less often encountered outside their original garb. Yet we can be sure that Bach himself would have embraced Rübsam’s idea with enthusiasm. The Suites themselves are compilations of dances, probably not all originally designed for their eventual destination as high-class entertainment music for the concert series at Café Zimmermann in Leipzig, and Bach repurposed some of their movements as sinfonias and even choruses for his church cantatas. As in his fairly free transcription of the Chaconne, Rübsam has made full use of the instrument at his disposal, a magnificent Casavant instrument (1998) at the Church of St. Louis, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The booklet includes a full disposition for the organ as well as an essay introducing both the works and Rübsam’s uniquely imaginative approach to them. ‘If the sound of the lute-harpsichord highlights Bach’s debt to French lute music, especially in the First Prelude, the instrument clarifies that homage while Rübsam’s interpretation transcends it.’ (Fanfare, November 2018, The Well-Tempered Clavier, 96750)

Tracklist 13 tracks

  1. 1 I. Ouverture 09:47
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Ouverture
    Duration
    09:47
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  2. 2 II. Air, "Air on the G String" 05:49
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Air, "Air on the G String"
    Duration
    05:49
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  3. 3 III. Gavotte I-II 04:39
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Gavotte I-II
    Duration
    04:39
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  4. 4 IV. Bourrée 02:07
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Bourrée
    Duration
    02:07
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  5. 5 V. Gigue 04:32
    Track
    5
    Title
    V. Gigue
    Duration
    04:32
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  6. 6 Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne (arr. W. Rübsam for organ) 16:01
    Track
    6
    Title
    Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne (arr. W. Rübsam for organ)
    Duration
    16:01
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  7. 7 I. Ouverture 10:05
    Track
    7
    Title
    I. Ouverture
    Duration
    10:05
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  8. 8 II. Rondeau 02:18
    Track
    8
    Title
    II. Rondeau
    Duration
    02:18
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  9. 9 III. Sarabande 04:05
    Track
    9
    Title
    III. Sarabande
    Duration
    04:05
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  10. 10 IV. Bourrée 02:56
    Track
    10
    Title
    IV. Bourrée
    Duration
    02:56
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  11. 11 V. Polonaise - Double - Polonaise 03:44
    Track
    11
    Title
    V. Polonaise - Double - Polonaise
    Duration
    03:44
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  12. 12 VI. Menuett 02:16
    Track
    12
    Title
    VI. Menuett
    Duration
    02:16
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam
  13. 13 VII. Badinerie 02:18
    Track
    13
    Title
    VII. Badinerie
    Duration
    02:18
    Composer
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Performer
    Wolfgang Rübsam