BACH COMPLETE SONATAS FOR VIOLA DA GAMBA AND HARPSICHORD DANIEL YEADON NEAL PERES DA COSTA

Transcription

1 BACH COMPLETE SONATAS FOR VIOLA DA GAMBA AND HARPSICHORD DANIEL YEADON NEAL PERES DA COSTA

2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Obbligato Harpsichord Sonata No. 1 in G major, BWV1027 [12 05] 1 I. Adagio II. Allegro ma non tanto III. Andante IV. Allegro moderato 2 58 Sonata No. 2 in D major, BWV1028 [15 33] 5 I. [Adagio] II. [Allegro] III. Andante IV. Allegro 4 10 Sonata No. 3 in G minor, BWV1029 [15 10] 9 I. Vivace II. Adagio 5 22! III. Allegro 4 09 Daniel Yeadon Viola da gamba by Petr Vavrous, Prague (Czech Republic), 2002, after Bertrand (early 18th century) Neal Peres Da Costa Double-manual French harpsichord by Andrew Garlick, Somerset (UK), after Goujon (early 18th century) 3

3 The great man would be the admiration of whole nations if he had more amenity, if he did not take away the natural element in his pieces by giving them a turgid and confused style, and if he did not darken their beauty with an excess of Art. (J.A. Scheibe, 1737) 1 It is almost inconceivable that anyone at any time could have had the temerity to be so critical of J.S. Bach; such is his godly status today. Yet in his own time, his compositional style was often judged as overly learned, cluttered and outmoded. While many of Bach s contemporaries were developing a new style that emphasised melodic invention with simplified harmonic support (style galant), producing music that was interesting and easily understandable for the general public, Bach appears to have remained largely unswayed. Scheibe went on to describe Bach s works as extremely difficult to play, not least because they contained an overproliferation of ornaments and graces figurations that to his mind diminished the beauty of harmony and obscured the melody throughout. More disturbingly for him, all the voices must work with each other and be of equal difficulty, and none of them can be recognized as the principal voice. Altogether rebellious, Bach flew in the face of modernity. He boldly celebrated the old, using richly layered polyphony, complex and often rapidly changing harmonies, and established musical forms in an idiosyncratic fashion. Even today, the strength of his invention is mind-bogglingly fascinating and challenging. But a further dimension to Bach s music lies in the technical and interpretative challenges it often poses. Scheibe, who claimed to have heard Bach play, was amazed at his technical prowess as a performer the agility of his fingers and feet in all sorts of musical acrobatics. Accordingly, Bach demanded that singers and instrumentalists should be able to do with their throats and instruments whatever he could manage on the keyboard. Such demands continue to put performers to the test. It is a love and admiration for his music that have drawn Danny and me to Bach s three sonatas for viola da gamba and obbligato harpsichord. There is something indescribably fascinating about them. They are exquisitely crafted with very contrasting moods and textures. We are compelled to perform them time and time again, to reassess our interpretation of them and to admire Bach s genius. Our journey with these extraordinary works started many years ago when Danny decided to expand his bowed-bass skills and take up the bass viol, also known as the viola da gamba. The instruments of the viol family come in various 1 J.A. Scheibe, Letter From An Able Musikant Abroad (1737), The Bach Reader, ed. H.T. David and A. Mendel (New York, 1945), revised edn. (New York, 1966), 238. sizes soprano, alto, tenor, bass and great bass (violone). It is likely that the viol developed during the 15th century in Spain out of the vihuela or guitar, rather than the violin family. Although the bass viol looks similar to a cello, its features are closely linked to the guitar. It has up to seven strings, is much lighter and thinner than a cello, has frets, and is tuned like a guitar in intervals of a fourth with one major third in the middle. It s held between the legs without a supporting spike and is bowed with an underhand hold palm facing upward which produces in its characteristic push-pull bow stroke a vastly different sound from the cello. It is capable of producing a wide tonal spectrum. It is often called upon to produce sounds that are haunting, sombre, lamenting or sighing in quality this it does with ease, creating an intimate atmosphere. But it can also produce strikingly penetrating tones in flashy passagework particularly suited to its upper register. The viol s heyday was roughly between the 16th and the early 18th century and it was revered throughout Europe as an instrument for solo and consort music as much as for accompaniment. There is vast repertory for it. It was often associated with the rich and royal. By Bach s era the viol s popularity had waned somewhat but he certainly loved and exploited it not only in these sonatas, but also in a host of other works including the St John and St Matthew Passions and various cantatas. The harpsichord probably needs fewer introductions than the viola da gamba. But for those who are coming to this music for the first time: the harpsichord is a plucked keyboard instrument that has a rich palette of sounds achieved by engaging and/or combining different sets of strings and other devices. The art of harpsichord playing lies in the player s sensitivity to touch and control. The harpsichordist cannot vary dynamics (loud or soft sounds) or produce accents by adjusting finger or arm pressure the technique used in piano playing. However, an impression of dynamics and accent can be created by the placement of notes a little earlier or later than notated or expected, or by holding over certain notes or groups of notes. The latter technique produces wonderfully sumptuous and sophisticated resonances that perfume the music. The harpsichord was indispensable for several centuries up to the second half of the 18th century and it was one of Bach s favourite keyboard instruments. There is an extremely large repertory of solo and concerted chamber music for the harpsichord. It was also crucial for the provision of rhythmic, melodic and harmonic support in chamber and orchestral music, which was generally improvised by the harpsichordist. The combination of viola da gamba and harpsichord is stunning. Their sounds are so entirely different. They are like chalk and cheese, and yet surprisingly, they complement each other. In these three sonatas Bach exploits these 4 5

4 differences to maximum effect. His writing creates a special sound world to which Danny and I have become addicted. The date of composition of these works remains in question. Until fairly recently, it was thought that they belonged to the period between 1717 and 1723, during Bach s employment at the court of Cöthen. The current thinking, however, is that they were written at Leipzig between 1739 and This was a period when Bach produced extraordinary chamber music, much of which was performed by the well-trained musicians of the famed Leipzig Collegium Musicum, which he directed. He would probably have played the obbligato harpsichord part. And there were some virtuoso viola da gamba players around who would have done the works great justice. Carl Friederich Abel ( ) was one. He apparently studied with Bach and was highly praised by Charles Burney for his completeness and perfection as a player, a virtuoso with a refined and delicate judgement. The other was Ludwig Christian Hesse ( ) who worked with Bach s son C.P. E. Bach in Berlin and with whom Bach would have become acquainted during his visits there in 1741 and Hesse was described as one of the greatest viola da gambists of the era, possessing dexterity, neatness and fire in his playing. 2 Although the title Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Obbligato Harpsichord suggests a duo between two instruments, these works are in reality trios or trio sonatas. But instead of having two independent treble instruments accompanied by a basso continuo group (for example bowed bass and harpsichord), Bach assigns one of the solo parts to the viola da gamba and the other to the harpsichordist s right hand. The bass-line accompaniment is played by the harpsichordist s left hand. This distribution of the trio parts is consistent throughout. Significantly, the harpsichord is relieved of its usual function in a trio sonata as a continuo instrument and is required to provide chordal continuo support only in a few bars in certain movements. Like so many composers of the Baroque era, Bach often borrowed or adapted his own music for different needs. The Sonata in G major, BWV1027, is a fine example of this. It is certainly a reworking of an earlier trio sonata for two flutes and continuo in G major, BWV1039 (c.1720), which in turn may have come from an even earlier work. The opening Adagio is an elegant dance in compound quadruple meter. Bach ends the movement with an unusually long and ghostly trill that resolves on the dominant tonality, creating a real feeling of suspense. Relief comes in the concertante Allegro ma non tanto movement that follows. This is a jaunty 2 L. Robinson, Preface to J.S. Bach Sonatas BWV , ed. Lucy Robinson (London, 1987), iv. triple-metre dance in the tonic key with intricate contrapuntal writing. Here even the bass line is given important thematic material. The movement is peppered with gorgeous sequential patterns. The austere E minor Andante that follows plunges the listener into quite another world. With its arching figurations and reinforced, repetitive bass, the movement is both passion-like and contemplative. The final Allegro moderato mixes strong fugal elements with virtuosic episodes reminiscent of the Italian style of Arcangelo Corelli. The Sonata in D major, BWV1028, shares a similar structure to BWV1027 but has quite a different feel. There is disagreement as to whether this, too, is a reworking of earlier material or an original work for the combination of viola da gamba and harpsichord. The opening movement, without tempo indication, is a slow triple-metre dance with delicate ornamental figurations that have a certain French quality, a reminder of Bach s cosmopolitan influences. Here again, the movement ends on the dominant tonality, creating a sense of expectation. The second movement in binary form, also without tempo indication, is both charmingly galant in the vocal quality of the opening theme played in sixths, and rambunctious in its snappy left-hand figurations, arpeggios and chunky chordal writing. The B minor Andante that follows is another stately dance a siciliana, with music that is simply sublime. It is a mini-voyage, that is, however, epic in nature and other-worldliness. The final Allegro in D major can only be described as a romp. It s a concerto for both instruments, a chance to show off. With the Sonata in G minor, BWV1029, the listener is taken to the world of the Italian ritornello concerto form. The opening Vivace in quadruple metre has an almost relentless rhythmic drive with the main theme repeated in various guises interposed by episodic material that is often sequential in nature. One can hear the interplay between tutti orchestra and soloists. A similar effect is heard in the third movement, a virtuosic dance that is frenzied and almost macabre in nature. The middle movement is in French sarabande style but has an overlay of both complex Italianate and more simple French ornaments. Compared with the outer movements the texture here is sparse, but the music is unbelievably poignant so much so that it was used in the soundtrack of the tearjerking film Truly Madly Deeply (1990). We hope you enjoy this musical feast, a veritable excess of art! Neal Peres Da Costa 6 7

5 DANIEL YEADON NEAL PERES DA COSTA Daniel Yeadon has a worldwide career as a cellist and viola da gamba player; his repertoire ranges from Renaissance to contemporary. His regular chamber music collaborators in Australia include Neal Peres Da Costa, Genevieve Lacey, Ironwood, Romanza, Kammer, Elision and The Collective. He has appeared as soloist with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, tours frequently with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, plays every year with Pinchgut Opera and records regularly for ABC Classics. He is much in demand as a teacher and is currently a lecturer at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Originally from the UK, Daniel Yeadon read physics at Oxford University and specialised in early music performance at the Royal College of Music in London. For many years he was a member of the renowned period-instrument ensemble Florilegium; he later joined the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, performing in major venues throughout the world and recording many award-winning CDs. Daniel Yeadon continues to appear as guest principal cellist with many of the period-instrument ensembles based in London, including the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Neal Peres Da Costa is a performing scholar specialising in historical keyboard instruments of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. With Florilegium, the internationally renowned period-instrument ensemble which he co-founded in 1991, he has performed in France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, North and South America, China and Australia. He has performed with Emma Kirkby, Nancy Argenta, James Bowman, Derek Lee Ragin, Michael Chance and Pieter Wispelwey, and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony, Australian Bach Ensemble, Salut! Baroque, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, The Song Company, Sinfonia Australis, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Pinchgut Opera and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Neal Peres Da Costa s discography includes numerous award-winning recordings with Florilegium on the Channel Classics label, and 19th-century music for clarinet and fortepiano with clarinettist Colin Lawson for Clarinet Classics. He is principal continuo player on many ABC Classics recordings; his album of Bach sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord with Richard Tognetti and Daniel Yeadon won the 2008 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album. 8 9

6 Currently, Neal Peres Da Costa is a lecturer in Musicology and Chair of the Early Music Unit at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He was for many years a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College in London, and in 2000 was Artist in Residence at the University of Leeds. He has taught at international summer courses in Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic, and has given masterclasses, lectures and concerts as part of the Barcelona Festival of Early Music. Neal Peres Da Costa holds degrees from the University of Sydney, the Guildhall School of Music and City University in London, and a PhD from the University of Leeds, researching performing practices in late 19th-century piano playing. Executive Producers Martin Buzacott, Robert Patterson Recording Producer, Engineer and Mastering Virginia Read Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb Publications Editor Natalie Shea Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd Cover Photo Jesus Nicolas Sanchez / Photolibrary.com Photo p8 Albert Comper Recorded June , 3, 5-8 and 9-12 March , 4, 9-! in the Eugene Goossens Hall of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation s Ultimo Centre. ABC Classics thanks Alexandra Alewood and Katherine Kemp Australian Broadcasting Corporation Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited