Keyboard Concertos Vol.13

Now the turn has come to the Italian Concerto and its companion piece the French Overture. The two works, which make up the so-called Clavier-Übung 2, demonstrate Bach’s familiarity with two main orchestral genres – the concerto and the overture suite – which respectively represent two important national styles of the day, Italian and French. As Yo Tomita argues in his liner notes, Bach’s aim was to extract these two distinct styles and give them expression in two keyboard works. Maybe he succeeded too well as the Italian Concerto, in particular, was hailed by some contemporaries as an indication that Bach was moving away from his ‘old-fashioned’ contrapuntal style… Highly characterful music then, in a programme which is complemented by the Sonata in D minor, a transcription – probably by the composer himself – of the Sonata in A minor for solo violin.

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Release: May 2004