BACH: CONCERTI, SUITES & SINFONIAS - The Aulos Ensemble

Bach Concerti Aulos Ensemble LINER NOTES

Your “Weimer”, "Cöthen" and "Leipzig": These three locations can be used to neatly divide the towering musical legacy of J.S. Bach an arrangement analogous to the "Early," Middle" and "Late" groupings habitually bestowed upon Beethoven's output. The tryptych approach for both of these musical geniuses has undeniable utility but can sometimes be misleading. It was in 1713, during his employ as organist to the Duke of Weimar, that Bach first encountered the then new Italian music of Antonio Vivaldi, Tomaso Albinoni, Arcangelo Corelli and the other violinist-composers. The Duke's young nephew, Prince Johann Ernst, had developed a passionate fondness for this fare and had brought some of these concerti (recently published in the Netherlands) back with him as additions to his uncle's library. Bach had a favorable impression, particularly so in Vivaldi's case--for he thought sufficiently well of the latter's music to arrange six of his Concerti Grossi for solo keyboard. And in some of his subsequent original works (the F major Concerto in the Italian Manner, BWV 971 springs immediately to mind), Bach assimilated the style in all its specifics and immeasurably transcended it—an observation that, likewise, applies to several of the Compositions heard on this recording.