New England Bach Festival
Back to Bach
Music for viola da gamba, recorder and harpsichord from the height of the baroque.
Georg Frideric Handel’s sonata is the standard structure upon which most instrumental sonatas and suites of the preceding fifty years were built – the ‘continuo’ sonata. In this, the solo instrument was supported by a bass instrument (cello, viola da gamba) and a chordal one (harpsichord, organ, theorbo) whose job was to realize the figures as an appropriate accompaniment. Breaking from this tradition, JS Bach composed many sonatas in which the harpsichord appears as partner rather than accompaniment, its parts fully worked out and shared in true polyphonic form. Carl Freidrich Abel, a student of Bach’s and partner to his youngest son John Christian, took a step further, switching the relative roles, and giving the solo part to the harpsichord with accompaniment to be provided by another instrument.
Our concert Back to Bach explores the structures that underpin this musically fertile and prolific age while acknowledging the great JS Bach as the reference point and anchor to which we can always turn.
Shaun Ng (viola da gamba), Joanne Arnott (recorder), Diana Weston (harpsichord)
Program
Carl Friedrich Abel
Sonata op. II no. 1 in C major for the Harpsichord, with accompaniments for a violin or transverse flute and a violoncello
Andantino, Allegro assai
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata in C minor BWV 1030 for Alto Recorder and Harpsichord
Andante, Largo e dolce, Presto/Allegro
Georg Frideric Handel
Sonata in C major for recorder and basso continuo
Larghetto, Allegro, Larghetto, Tempo di gavotte, Allegro
Interval
JS Bach
Sonata in G BWV 1027 for viola da gamba and harpsichord
Adagio, Allegro ma non tanto, Andante, Allegro moderato
JS Bach
Sonata in G minor BWV 1034 for altblockflute and cembalo (and viola da gamba)
Adagio ma non tanto, allegro, andante, allegro
Saturday May 1 evening
