Rinaldo Alessandrini - Bach: Praeludien & Fugen (2015)

Johann Sebastian Bach’s prolific compositions for harpsichord are used not only
in concert but the tight technical exercises are beloved by young harpsichordists
and pianists alike. It was, in fact, the composer’s intention to provide two different
concepts: one for concert music, the other for purely didactic purposes. In the
case of the latter, he used shorter works as teaching materials for harpsichord
and composition lessons.
Today, difficult to overlook the beauty of these small pieces written for his
students, they are often played in concert. This recording seeks to offer a
coherent collection of compositions, unheard of at the time, that differ in both
style and period: isolated preludes, brought together in small didactic collections
with equally-isolated fugues, that were composed without the introduction that
usually preceded them.
Much, but not all, of this music dates back to Köthen. It takes us on a journey
through different collections: the Clavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedmann; the
Menpell-Preller manuscript dating 1730-1740 and having belonged to Johann
Nikolaus Mempell, a student of Bach; the various ‘Kellner manuscripts’. We
have coupled ‘preludes and fugues’ according to their tonality and assembled
them using contrasting criteria. Also recorded are compositions with uncertain
authorship: the prelude and fugue BWV 895, fugues BWV 899, 952, 956, 957.
This is not a scholarly collection but rather a disc for ‘divertissement’, with
music of varying shades and qualities, conceived by imagining how a prelude
would be associated with a fugue, a practice which at the time was not as rare
as one might think.
As is often the case in the music of Bach, the counterpoint slackens in tension
and complexity rather than following a strict set of rules. This creates a relaxed
environment without compromising musical quality. Some of the fugues – in light
of their educational purposes – unfold a linear and transparent counterpoint.
More complex is the massive fugue BWV 951, which rolls out on a chromatic
theme from the Eighth Sonata by Tommaso Albinoni, an Italian composer so
esteemed by Bach that he used his musical compositions repeatedly for didactic
purposes.
The complexity of this fugue is emphasized by its chromaticity, long structure
punctuated with thematic reprises, and free divertimenti of varying lengths.
However, the prelude, of uncertain authorship, introduces the fugue in the more
classical ‘stylus phantasticus’ of the German school. Fugue BWV 948 was written
for harpsichord with pedals, as were a number of other important compositions
(sonata BWV 946, capriccio BWV 993, aria 989), which is why we have recorded
a shortened version.
Certain preludes and fugues reflect the evolving state of the final versions
(prelude and fugue 870a; the various versions of BWV 902; the first rough draft
of BWV 884, and how from BWV 901 we get BWV 886). Fugues BWV 956, also
of uncertain authorship, is in a form that strongly resembles a sketch. Most
counterpoint seems to have remained in the composer’s mind. For this reason
I have developed them in the style of Bach as coherently and consistently as
possible.