Well-tempered
Photo by Peter Hislop
Well-tempered
Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier is an exploration of tonality in the form of 48 Preludes and Fugues for harpsichord. This year we dip into this well of invention so often neglected. Bach’s fondness for the fugal form spilled into many other compositions such as his 14 canons on the theme from the Goldberg Variations and his Sonata for recorder and harpsichord. Contrasting with this are continuo sonatas by Telemann as well as Bach. Our new commission – Katia Tiutiunnik’s triology, the mesmerizing Illuminada for harpsichord and recorder – uses Japanese harmonic language as its basis. With Elena Kats-Chernin’s elegy Green Leaf for Elke, we show what stunning new music can emerge from old methods.
Program
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata in F for treble recorder and continuo: Adagio ma non tanto, Allegro, Siciliano, Allegro assai
JS Bach:Fourteen Canons on the First Eight Notes of the Goldberg Ground BWV 1087 arr. for harpsichord, recorder
George Philip Telemann: Methodical Sonata No. 4 for treble recorder and continuo Andante, Presto, con tenerezza, Allegro
JS Bach
Well-tempered Clavier Book I: Prelude and Fugue No. IV in C sharp minor
JS Bach: Sonata in a minor for recorder and obbligato harpsichord BWV 102 Allegro, adagio, allegro
Elena Kats-Chernin: Green Leaf for Elke
Katia Tiutiunnik: Illuminada for harpsichord and recorders
1 . Sombras dos Segredos (Shadows of Secrets), 2. Rainha Resplendecente (Resplendent queen), 3. Dança Sagrada (Sacred Danced
With Joanne Arnott (recorders) and Diana Weston (harpsichord)
Saturday May 27 at 3 pm
Wesley Music Centre, 20 – 22 National Circuit, Forrest, Canberra
The Wrap
‘My friend and her guest, also loved it. She actually made some brief video clips of each of the pieces/movements. It was so moving to witness such brilliant playing.
I noticed you played Number 2, Resplendent Queen, at a faster tempo, which I liked, though I also liked last year’s premier performance of it. The faster tempo would have made it more difficult to play, I imagine. In Number 1, Shadows of Secrets you and Jo achieved a lovely affect and the tempo was good. Its sense of mystery, regret and longing was apparent to me. Number 3, Sacred Dance, is the most complex of the three pieces, harmonically (since it features both Japanese and Arab scales) and rhythmically. What I heard sounded virtuosic…’ Katia Tiutiunnik (composer, Illuminada)
Review
Program Notes
The program takes its title from JS Bach’s well-known collection for keyboard – Wohltemperiertes Klavier (the Well-tempered Clavier). We have chosen only one – the Prelude and Fugue No. IV from Book I, in C sharp minor. The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, organized chromatically. The first book, dated 1722, was composed “for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study”. The second book came 20 years later. Throughout the collection, Bach explores tonality in all the keys, varying his schema primarily in the Preludes which come in many forms, in the fugues by way of the number of voices. Prelude in C sharp minor is formed from short lyrical phrases that call and respond. The fugue is in five voices, the theme only 4 notes – 4 portentous notes. By keeping the theme spare, Bach is able to build a massive structure upon which he places a counter melody of moving notes. As the piece unfolds, the enormous tension he creates finally falls away, subsides, and resolves.
The complexity of this Prelude and Fugue is tempered by other works by Bach, and Telemann. Continuo sonatas for recorder, 14 Canons on the First Eight Notes of the Goldberg Ground, and a Sonata for Recorder (originally flute) and obbligato harpsichord. This vibrant work presages later developments when one instrument is offset by a fully written-out accompaniment. Full of verve in the first movement, pathos in the second and joy in the third, it is a counter-poise to the intensity of the Prelude and Fugue.
A double take and we find ourselves in the twenty-first century with two beautiful works.
Elena Kats-Chernin’s piece Green Leaf for Elke is dedicated ‘in memory of my friend’ Opera Australia’s Elke Neidhardt who died in 2014. I am using Elena’s manuscript copy, which she sent me when I asked permission to use the piece on harpsichord despite not yet being published. Reading from the original ms is always an interesting, if confusing exercise. There are no crossing-outs in Elena’s copy. Every note is where she wants it, you just have to look very closely. The insertion of the recorder into the performance is my doing.
A similar but different work – Green Leaf, is part of a collection of her piano works.
We are proud to bring you our commissioned work for 2022, now completed – the 3-movement Illuminada:Três Reflexões sobre Fátima, by ex-pat Katia Tiutiunnik. This extraordinary work, for recorder and harpsichord, was inspired by Katia’s fascination with the reports of apparitions of Mary, mother of Jesus, at Fatima, Portugal in 1917. The first movement (Shadows of Secrets) hints at a period of sorrow, the second (Resplendent Queen) at the joy felt by the observers at the light-filled vision they experience. The third and last (Sacred Dance) is a wild dance – mesmeric and ecstatic.