Three Sonatas for Cello and Harpsichord
XWN 18627
XWN 18627
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4. S. BACH: THREE SONATAS FOR CELLO AND HARPSICHORD
No. 1 in G Major (S. 1027)
ANTONIO JANIGRO - Cello
| K6then, when Johann Sebastian Bach
THE NIUASIS arrived there in November 1717, had
| very much both the appearance and the
atmosphere of what today would be
called a small university town. The center of Kéthen, however,
was not a school, but the Schloss which housed the young
Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Kéthen and more privileged members
of his retinue. The Prince was only twenty-two when he had
first met Bach at his sister, the Princess, wedding in Weimar
and, having neither wife nor occupation to divert him, he
poured all his affection and understanding into the practice and
appreciation of music. Bach, both as a personality and a com-
poser, seems to have appealed to him immediately and he at
once set about luring the great musician into his service. As
Johann Sebastian was at that moment irate because he had been
overlooked for promotion on the death of his Weimar employer's
Kapellmeister, he allowed himself to be quickly convinced in
spite of the complete absence of church music at the Kothen
court.
The town of K6then, half rural and half urban, hemmed in
from the surrounding fields and woods by a towered medieval
wall, was dependant for its cultural life upon the activities at
the Schloss.. The Schloss itself more resembled a college dormi-
tory enclosing a quadrangle of garden plots and trees than a
castle , although it was surrounded by a thin moat, and the
court itself was conducted on a small but discriminating scale.
There is much argument as to where the Bach family lived
during the five years Johann Sebastian served the Prince but as
Leopold was extremely attached to his Kapellmeister’s person
and superlatively adulatory of his accomplishments, it would
seem most likely that they had an apartment in one wing of the
Scholoss. Besides possessing the long coveted title of Kappell-
meister, Bach also drew the second largest salary at the court,
had his own private music copyer and complete charge of all
musical arrangements. The Kapelle—called by the Prince the
Collegium Musicum—consisted of eighteen members including
Bach, who played the only viola in the group. The basic strings,
winds, and brasses were augmented by traveling players and
singers, and the visits of these musicians to Kéthen provide the
basis for dating many of the Kéthen compositions which
could not have been performed without such necessary instru-
mental and vocal additions. It was in this way that Bach first
met Anna Magdelene Wilcken, who shortly was to become his
beloved second wife.
Wherever Johann Sebastian may have lived, he was respon-
sible for rehearsing the Kapelle at his house and this arrange-
ment in addition to the informality of the court must have made
his relationship with his fellow musicians more gemiitlich than
business-like. The absence of all elaborate church music in the
Calvinist congregation to which Prince Leopold belonged left
Bach’s efforts almost solely concentrated on chamber works both
for orchestra and solo instruments, the great majority of which
have, sadly, been lost. The Brandenburg Concerti, the solo
Sonatas for violin and cello, the first book of the Well Tempered
Klavier are among the many magnificent creations of this period
when Johann Sebastian was in his middle thirties, fully in com-
mand of his materials and considerably sobered from his youthful
propensity for virtuoso exclamations. The three Sonatas for
Klavier and Viola da Gamba are no exception to the high quality
No. 2 in D Major (S. 1028)
and moving depth of his Kòthen chamber music.
By the first part of the eighteenth century the viols, long the
kings of European music, had retreated to the attic. Their soft
organ-like tone and lack of brilliance and nimbleness made them
unsuitable for the tenser demands of the concert hall. The bass
member of the family, however, became popular in its Own
right as a virtuoso instrument and was still cultivated in Bach's
time by talented amateurs and a few professionals. In size, the
bass viol was somewhat smaller than a cello and fitted with frets
on the fingerboard, as were all the viols. It was tuned in fourths
with a central third, thus: DGcead, and when played it was
held ‘decently betwixt your knees”, as the Jacobean Christopher
Simpson instructs. Prince Leopold counted the playing of the
gamba among his musical accomplishments, but whether or not
he could maneuver the Gamba Sonatas is impossible to tell. Bach,
however well paid and adored, was never a composer to make
concessions to the pleasure of half-skilled performers and it 1s
more likely that his gambist colleague in the Kappelle, Christian
Ferdinand Abel, whose son Karl become the last of the great
gamba virtuosos, performed the Sonatas with Bach at the
klavier for the Prince’s edification.
The Sonatas for Klavier and Viola da Gamba, composed
around 1720, are trio rather than solo sonatas, in which the gam-
ba or cello takes the tenor line while the harpsichord surrounds it
with the bass and treble. For this reason the string music is re-
stricted to the upper range of the instrument and is is controlled
by the demands of the piece rather than by a desire for brilliance
or showmanship, an attitude which became increasingly promi-
nent in Johann Sebastian’s work. The Sonata No. 1 in G Major
was arranged by the composer from a slightly earlier version for
two flutes and continuo. It consists of four movements: Adagio,
Allegro ma non tanto, a short Andante, and Allegro Moderato.
Bach must have been especially fond of this music for he later
adapted the final movement as an organ trio. The Second Sonata
in D Major is also in four movements: it opens with a brief but
lyrical Adagio, next an Allegro, Andante, and a long final
Allegro which has a rocking motion like a Barcarolle.
The form of the Third Sonata in G Minor is more condensed,
but at the same time more richly developed musically. The work
has many of the qualities of a small concerto and although the
basic outlines of the trio sonata are retained, the working out of
the material is much more fllexible technically and emotionally.
In many places the music is like a horse trying to get hold of
the bit: the harmonies are filled in and elaborated as though the
bounds of the trio might be broken by sheer weight, while the
initial themes give way to variants and new sentiments in the
course of their development. The Sonata is in three movements:
Vivace, a beautiful Adagio, and a complex but delightful Allegro.
The impact of the power of Bach’s musical. architecture, such
as overwhelms one in the solo violin sonatas and partitas, the
later Musical Offering, and Art of the Fugue, is also evident in
the Klavier and Gamba Sonatas, but tempered with a beautiful
melodic simplicity. The close relationship between the size and
tuning of the division viola da gamba and the more recent cello
allow the works to be played without alterations on either
instrument.
J. ROBISON
No. 3 in G Minor (S. 1029)
ROBERT VEYRON-LACROIX - Harpsichord —
ANTONIO JANIGRO
es ANTONIO JANIGRO has taken bis
THE ARTISTS place among the world’s leading vir-
) tuoso cellists. In solo recitals and ap-
pearances as soloist with many of the
major symphony orchestras he has toured all over the world—
Europe, South America, North Africa, Indonesia—and in the
United States he has recently played to sold-out houses and
cheering audiences from coast to coast. In his many orchestral
appearances Mr. Janigro has played under such noted conductors
as Ansermet, Cluytens, Fricsay, Kletzki, Markevitch, Scherchen,
and Van Beinum.
ROBERT VEYRON-LACROIX was born in Paris in 1922,
and studied at the Conservatorie Nationale de Musique in that
city. Being equally gifted as a performer on the harpsichord
and the piano, he has been a soloist with major European
orchestras, while his talent for chamber music brought him an
invitation to participate in the Prades Festival under Pablo
Casals. When not on concert tours throughout Europe, Africa
and the Orient he does much research on old and unedited
music. Mr. Veyron-Lacroix is professor of harpsichord at the
Schola Cantorum, Parts.
di : This recording is processed according to the
TH E * ECO è, D IR.I.A. A. characteristic from a tape re-
i corded with Westminster's exclusive ''Panor-
thophonic''® technique. To achieve the great-
est fidelity, each Westminster record is mastered at the volume level
technically suited to it. Therefore, set your volume control at the level
which sounds best to your ears. Variations in listening rooms and playback
equipment may require additional adjustment of bass and treble controls
to obtain NATURAL BALANCE. Play this recording only with an unworn,
microgroove stylus. (.001 radius). For best economical results we re-
commend that you use a diamond stylus, which will last longer than
other needies. Average playback times: diamond—over 2000 plays;
sapphire—50 plays; osmium or other metal points—be sure to change
frequently. Remember that a damaged stylus may ruin your collection.
ROBERT VEYRON-LACROIX
HEAR THESE OTHER OUTSTANDING WESTMINSTER RECORDINGS BY ANTONIO JANIGRO AND ROBERT VEYRON-LACROIX
VIVALDI: Six Sonatas for Cello and Harpsichord—Antonio
Janigro cello; Robert Veyron-Lacroix, harpsichord.......... XWN18628
BACH: Suites for Unaccompanied Cello —Antonio Janigro
No. in G Major: No. 2 inCMapr i. XWN18349
Ne" 2 n D Minor Me 6 WB eer XWN18350 i À
Né: 4 in E Flat Major No. 9 in € Mia... XWN18073 RAMEAU: Complete Works for Harpsichord—Robert Veyron-Lacroix,
BOCCHERINI: Cello Concerto in B Flat Major
HAYDN: Cello Concerto in D Major, Op. 101——Antonio Janigro,
HAYDN: Concertos for Harpsichord—D Major; F Major, G Major;
herpsichord i. Cl... iii
Concertino in C Major—Robert Veyron-Lacroix, harpsichord;
Vienna State Opera Orch.; Horvat, cond......................... XWN18042
davi XWN3303
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(also available separately on XWN18124, XWN18125, and
XWN18126)
cello; Vienna State Opera Orch.; Prohaska, cond. .......... XWN18406
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Printed in U.S.A.
334 RPM
J. S. BACH
THREE SONATAS FOR CELLO AND HARPSICHORD
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18627 XTV 26396
Made in USA
SONATA NO. 1 IN G MAJOR (S. 1027)
band one 1. Adagio - Allegro ma non tanto
band two 2. Andante
band three 3. Allegro moderato
SONATA NO. 2 IN D MAJOR (S. 1028)
band four 1. Adagio - Allegro
band five 2. Andante
band six 3. Allegro
ANTONIO JANIGRO - Cello
ROBERT VEYRON-LACROIX - Harpsichord
Ma gino
NCE, BROADCASTING AND 994
al al BALANCE
97,
39% RPM
=== \
i} J. S. BACH
THREE SONATAS FOR CELLO AND HARPSICHORD
SIDE
XWN 2
18627
XTV 26397 |
Made in USA
SONATA NO. 3 IN G MINOR (S. 1029)
1. Vivace
2. Adagio
3. Allegro
ANTONIO JANIGRO - Cello
ROBERT VEYRON-LACROIX - Harpsichord
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© BRoapcastinG AND ©
