Benjamin Alard – Johann Sebastian Bach: The Complete Works for Keyboard, Vol. 8: Köthen, 1717-1723 – For Maria Barbara (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Benjamin Alard – Johann Sebastian Bach: The Complete Works for Keyboard, Vol. 8: Köthen, 1717-1723 – For Maria Barbara (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 03:23:32 minutes | 4,54 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Eagerly pursuing his exploration of Bach’s corpus for solo keyboard, Benjamin Alard focuses here on works associated with the composer’s first wife, Maria Barbara, and her untimely death in 1720. This instalment therefore includes both the Inventions and Sinfonias, a collection of teaching pieces brimming with freshness and invention, and the prodigious French Suites, one of the peaks of Bach’s years in Cöthen.

Benjamin Alard’s complete cycle of Bach’s keyboard music is doubly radical. First, there are the ambitious dimensions of the project, something that nobody has attempted before. Second, each individual release tends to offer extremely unorthodox decisions regarding forces and interpretation. This eighth volume is typical. The theme is indicated by the subtitle, For Maria Barbara; the music here is from Bach’s Köthen period and was more or less closely connected to Bach’s first wife — the sonatas and partitas for solo violin may have been a kind of memorial for her. These have been transcribed for keyboard instruments before, a questionable decision in that they depend musically on the difficulty of adapting polyphony to a solo violin, but Alard goes further than anyone else, performing the Sonata in D minor, BVW 964, and the big Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 for solo violin, BWV 1004, on a pedal clavichord. Alard is absolutely right to note that the clavichord remains unrecognized as a common household instrument in Bach’s time and far beyond; the pedal variant was developed to let organists practice at home. It was a quiet instrument, and this is not good enough for Alard, who decides to amplify it greatly. The effect of this, picking up a great deal of ambient noise, is unusual enough that listeners are going to have to make up their own minds about it; it is kind of like going to a rock concert. The second part of the program includes the Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772-801, otherwise known as Two- and Three-Part Inventions. The clavichord makes a good deal more sense in these. The program also features two of the French Suites, played on a 1645 harpsichord “ravaled” (this word is not even in most English dictionaries — it is from French “ravalement,” facelift, cleaning, restoration) by a later maker. These are stirring performances, and there is another unorthodox twist: pieces from Couperin’s L’art de toucher le clavecin frame the suites. This actually works; the French Suites were not so named until after Bach’s death, but their models are French, and Couperin could have been in Bach’s head. As is becoming usual with Alard, listeners may not buy everything he does, but the album is an adventure, and one awaits the next with great interest. – James Manheim

Tracklist:
1-01. Benjamin Alard – Sonata in D minor, BWV 964: I. Adagio (04:05)
1-02. Benjamin Alard – Sonata in D minor, BWV 964: II. Fuga. Allegro (07:58)
1-03. Benjamin Alard – Sonata in D minor, BWV 964: III. Andante (05:13)
1-04. Benjamin Alard – Sonata in D minor, BWV 964: IV. Allegro (05:59)
1-05. Benjamin Alard – Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne (Arr. for Keyboard) (13:17)
1-06. Benjamin Alard – Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 539: Prelude (01:15)
1-07. Benjamin Alard – Prelude and Fugue in D minor, BWV 539: Fugue (05:27)
1-08. Benjamin Alard – Adagio in G Major, BWV 968 (03:16)
1-09. Benjamin Alard – Pedal-Exercitium, BWV 598 (02:13)
1-10. Benjamin Alard – Great Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542: Fantasia (05:00)
2-01. Benjamin Alard – Invention in C Major, BWV 772 (01:23)
2-02. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in C Major, BWV 787 (01:22)
2-03. Benjamin Alard – Invention in F Major, BWV 779 (00:55)
2-04. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in F Major, BWV 794 (01:20)
2-05. Benjamin Alard – Invention in D Minor, BWV 775 (01:15)
2-06. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in D Minor, BWV 790 (01:48)
2-07. Benjamin Alard – Invention in G Major, BWV 781 (00:56)
2-08. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in G Major, BWV 796 (01:19)
2-09. Benjamin Alard – Invention in E Minor, BWV 778 (01:36)
2-10. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in E Minor, BWV 793 (02:19)
2-11. Benjamin Alard – Invention in A Major, BWV 783 (01:35)
2-12. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in D Major, BWV 789 (01:31)
2-13. Benjamin Alard – Invention in D Major, BWV 774 (01:25)
2-14. Benjamin Alard – Invention in B Minor, BWV 786 (01:38)
2-15. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in B Minor, BWV 801 (01:35)
2-16. Benjamin Alard – L’Art de toucher le clavecin: Prelude in D Minor (01:20)
2-17. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812: I. Allemande (03:35)
2-18. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812: II. Courante (02:10)
2-19. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812: III. Sarabande (02:21)
2-20. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812: IV. Menuets I & II (02:57)
2-21. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812: V. Gigue (02:06)
2-22. Benjamin Alard – L’Art de toucher le clavecin: Prelude in G Minor (00:54)
2-23. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: I. Allemande (03:09)
2-24. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: II. Courante (01:56)
2-25. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: III. Sarabande (03:56)
2-26. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: IV. Gavotte (01:16)
2-27. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: V. Bourrée (01:18)
2-28. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: VI. Loure (01:59)
2-29. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816: VII. Gigue (03:24)
2-30. Benjamin Alard – L’Art de toucher le clavecin: Prelude in B Minor (01:42)
2-31. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814: I. Allemande (03:16)
2-32. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814: II. Courante (02:20)
2-33. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814: III. Sarabande (02:52)
2-34. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814: IV. Anglaise (01:36)
2-35. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814: V. Menuet – Trio (03:02)
2-36. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814: VI. Gigue (02:32)
3-01. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in E-Flat Major, BWV 791 (01:50)
3-02. Benjamin Alard – Invention in E-Flat Major, BWV 776 (01:45)
3-03. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in C Minor, BWV 788 (01:51)
3-04. Benjamin Alard – Invention in C Minor, BWV 773 (01:58)
3-05. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in F Minor, BWV 795 (03:02)
3-06. Benjamin Alard – Invention in F Minor, BWV 780 (01:32)
3-07. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in B-Flat Major, BWV 800 (01:56)
3-08. Benjamin Alard – Invention in B-Flat Major, BWV 785 (01:17)
3-09. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in G Minor, BWV 797 (02:26)
3-10. Benjamin Alard – Invention in G Minor, BWV 782 (01:28)
3-11. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in E Major, BWV 792 (01:25)
3-12. Benjamin Alard – Invention in E Major, BWV 777 (03:12)
3-13. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in A Minor, BWV 799 (01:41)
3-14. Benjamin Alard – Invention in A Minor, BWV 784 (01:21)
3-15. Benjamin Alard – Sinfonia in A Major, BWV 798 (01:46)
3-16. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 815a (Alternate Version): I. Prelude (01:23)
3-17. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 815: I. Allemande (02:54)
3-18. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 815: II. Courante (01:57)
3-19. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 815: III. Sarabande (03:02)
3-20. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 815: IV. Gavotte (01:14)
3-21. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 815: V. Menuet (00:45)
3-22. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 815: VI. Air (01:52)
3-23. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major, BWV 815: VII. Gigue (02:37)
3-24. Benjamin Alard – Prelude in C Minor, BWV 999 (01:46)
3-25. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813: I. Allemande (02:57)
3-26. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813: II. Courante (02:06)
3-27. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813: III. Sarabande (03:02)
3-28. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813: IV. Air (01:40)
3-29. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813: V. Menuet (03:10)
3-30. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813: VI. Gigue (02:35)
3-31. Benjamin Alard – L’Art de toucher le clavecin: Prelude in E Minor (01:15)
3-32. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: I. Allemande (03:12)
3-33. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: II. Courante (01:57)
3-34. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: III. Sarabande (02:41)
3-35. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: IV. Gavotte (01:13)
3-36. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: V. Polonaise (01:06)
3-37. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: VI. Bourrée (01:31)
3-38. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: VII. Menuet (01:05)
3-39. Benjamin Alard – French Suite No. 6 in E major, BWV 817: VIII. Gigue (02:41)

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