[6/10/2011] Gotta dance -- Bach the suite-maker, Part 1 [formerly Preview 1] (continued)

And here guitarist Per-Olov Kindgren plays his arrangement of the Sarabande from Bach's Violin Partita No. 1.


NOW BACK TO BACH'S AIR

Here's how the Air sounds in its (more or less) original form.

BACH: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068:
No. 2, Air

Moscow Virtuosi, Vladimir Spivakov, cond. BMG, recorded in Munich, Apr. 22-28, 1989

And here it is, well, "done up" a bit -- as arranged and conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

BACH-STOKOWSKI: Air on the G String
(Air from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068)

Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Capitol/EMI, recorded February 1958


AS IT HAPPENS, THE FAMOUS STOKOWSKI BACH
ARRANGEMENTS INCLUDED OTHER SUITE MOVEMENTS

And we're going to hear two more tonight, along with their originals. You'll note that in Stoky's hands both the bourrée and the sarabande emerge as decidedly stately presentations. As the Wikipedia note indicates, this is indeed how Bach and other baroque composers heard the sarabande (in stark contrast to its original Spanish form). However, as you'll hear in Robert Levin's performance of tonight's bourrée as well as the two strikingly different ones by Martha Argerich (recorded only months apart -- the live performance fleeter, less percussive, shapelier than the studio version), the bourrée is a decidedly quick dance form. (Of course we heard some pretty spiffy bourrées in our posts devoted to Handel's Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music.)

BOURRÉE

BACH: English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807:
No. 5, Bourrée

The bourrée (also borrèia) is a dance of French origin common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. It is danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. The main difference between the two is the anacrusis, or upbeat; a bourrée starts on the last beat of a bar, creating a quarter-bar anacrusis, whereas a gavotte has a half-bar anacrusis. It often has a dactylic rhythm. In his Der Vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739), Johann Mattheson wrote of the bourrée, "its distinguishing feature resides in contentment and a pleasant demeanor, at the same time it is somewhat carefree and relaxed, a little indolent and easygoing, though not disagreeable". -- Wikipedia (links onsite)

orchestral version arr. Stokowski
Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Capitol/EMI, recorded February 1958
original version for keyboard solo
Robert Levin, piano. Hänssler Classics, recorded Oct. 8-15, 1999
Martha Argerich, piano. DG, recorded February 1979
Martha Argerich, piano. EMI, recorded live in the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), May 7, 1978

SARABANDE

BACH: Partita for Solo Violin No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002:
No. 3, Sarabande

In music, the sarabande (It., sarabanda) is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation. The quarters are said to corresponded with dragging steps in the dance. . . . Apparently the dance became popular in the Spanish colonies before moving back across the Atlantic to Spain. . . . Later it became a traditional movement of the suite during the baroque period, usually coming directly after the Courante. The baroque sarabande is commonly a slow triple rather than the much faster Spanish original, consistent with the courtly European interpretations of many Latin dances. This slower, less spirited interpretation of the dance form was codified in the writings of various 18th century musicologists . . . . -- Wikipedia (links onsite)

orchestral version arr. Stokowski
Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Capitol/EMI, recorded February 1958
original version for solo violin
Ruggiero Ricci, violin. Westminster/MCA, recorded c1966


WHILE WE'RE AT IT, COULD WE SLIP IN JUST ONE
MORE BOURRÉE AND ONE MORE SARABANDE?

As you'll see Sunday, this is actually more literally in the nature of a preview for this week's main post. The performance, by the way, is by the great Hungarian-born cellist János Starker (born 1924 and still with us the last time I checked), from his fifth and last recording of the Bach cello suites, made just weeks before his 68th birthday.

We hear the Sarabande and Bourrée first separately, then together. I kept going back and forth about this, then went ahead and made an audio file of the two movements together, then decided that no, maybe people might want to hear this wonderful bourrée in particular on its own. Since the "together" file was already made, I decided to throw it in as well. (I could have done something fancier like, say, go back to one of Starker's earlier recordings of the Bach suites, but for once I managed to control myself.)

BACH: Suite for Solo Cello No. 3 in C, BWV 1009:

No. 4, Sarabande

No. 5, Bourrée I-II


No. 4, Sarabande
No. 5, Bourrée I-II
János Starker, cello. BMG, recorded June 19-24, 1992


IN TOMORROW NIGHT'S PREVIEW PART 2 OF "BACH THE SUITE-MAKER"

Now we've heard a bourrée and a sarabande, both suite-making staples for Bach. Tomorrow night we're going to sample some of the other dances most frequently heard in his suites.

SATURDAY UPDATE: As I explain in tonight's follow-up post, this erstwhile "preview" has been officially redesignated Part 1 of a three-part Sunday Classics post, continuing Saturday night and concluding Sunday morning.


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