Bach Inventions & Sinfonias
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Label: Archiv Produktion
Magazine Review Date: 8/1985
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 415 112-1AH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (15) 2-Part Inventions |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Kenneth Gilbert, Harpsichord |
| (15) 3-Part Inventions ,'Sinfonias' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Kenneth Gilbert, Harpsichord |
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Label: Archiv Produktion
Magazine Review Date: 8/1985
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 415 112-2AH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (15) 2-Part Inventions |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Kenneth Gilbert, Harpsichord |
| (15) 3-Part Inventions ,'Sinfonias' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Kenneth Gilbert, Harpsichord |
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Label: Archiv Produktion
Magazine Review Date: 8/1985
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 415 112-4AH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (15) 2-Part Inventions |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Kenneth Gilbert, Harpsichord |
| (15) 3-Part Inventions ,'Sinfonias' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Kenneth Gilbert, Harpsichord |
Author: Nicholas Anderson
Glancing through the Gramophone Classical Catalogue I was surprised to see that until the arrival of this record there had been no other separate issues available of Bach's two-and three-part Inventions played on the harpsichord. He wrote these carefully-ordered pieces for his eldest son including them in his Clavier-Buchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach which he began to complete in 1720. In 1723 Bach made a fair copy of these 30 short didactic pieces replacing the names which he had first given them—Praeambulum for the two-part pieces, BWV772-86, and Fantasia for the three-part ones, BWV787-801—with the titles Inventio and Sinfonia respectively. In a more modest way than the 48 preludes and fugues they explore the keys most readily available to keyboard players at that time; Bach's ascending pattern begins, in each case, with c major and ends with B minor but excludes tonalities requiring more than four sharps or four flats. The instructional purpose of these pieces is implicit both in the rhetorically related sense of the world 'inventio' and in Bach's own declared purpose of instructing his eldest son; but they have an expressive side to them too which often provides a distraction from their contrapuntal discipline.
Kenneth Gilbert plays a fine two-manual dutch instrument of the late-seventeenth century, enlarged and modified first by Blanchet and then by Taskin in Paris during the mid-eighteenth century. It's the same instrument that he plays in his recent fine recording of Bach's 48 preludes and fugues (Archiv Produktion 413 439-1AH5, 9/84). The pitch—A= 392—also corresponds with that used in the 48 and this would be an appropriate place to apologize to readers for my original review of that set, where I faile to distinguish between A = 392 and A = 415. As in their recording of the 48 the Archiv engineers have secured a clear and resonant sound which captures the rich character of the instrument. Gilbert's playing is polished and rhythmic and makes effective use of registration to maintain linear clarity. His readings are always thoughtful and I like the reflective manner in which he allows Bach's rich variety of thematic ideas to unfold. It is a strongly rhetorical approach which makes a good eloquent sense of the music. Good presentation and good pressings. Recommended.'
Kenneth Gilbert plays a fine two-manual dutch instrument of the late-seventeenth century, enlarged and modified first by Blanchet and then by Taskin in Paris during the mid-eighteenth century. It's the same instrument that he plays in his recent fine recording of Bach's 48 preludes and fugues (Archiv Produktion 413 439-1AH5, 9/84). The pitch—A= 392—also corresponds with that used in the 48 and this would be an appropriate place to apologize to readers for my original review of that set, where I faile to distinguish between A = 392 and A = 415. As in their recording of the 48 the Archiv engineers have secured a clear and resonant sound which captures the rich character of the instrument. Gilbert's playing is polished and rhythmic and makes effective use of registration to maintain linear clarity. His readings are always thoughtful and I like the reflective manner in which he allows Bach's rich variety of thematic ideas to unfold. It is a strongly rhetorical approach which makes a good eloquent sense of the music. Good presentation and good pressings. Recommended.'
Bach Inventions & Sinfonias
Bach Inventions & Sinfonias
Bach Inventions & Sinfonias
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