Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Seven Keyboard Toccatas (BWV 910-916)
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Bach-Extravaganza
This is "unleashed" Bach. Great keyboard
compositions, free from any kind of didactic (i.e. "The Well-tempered
Clavier", the "Art of Fugue" etc.), formal (i.e. sonata, variations
etc.), stylistically codified (i.e. "Allemande", "Gigue", "Sarabande"
etc.), church-related or court-related constraints. Those works can
only be compared to the composer's Fantasias and such a comparison will
be to the benefit of the Toccatas.Bach-Extravaganza could have been a flashy title for J.S. Bach's Toccatas (BWV 910-916), if such things were existing then... Johann Sebastian Bach gives here free run to his musical imagination. The Toccatas represent for us a true testimony of what have made the Leipzig Cantor improvising on keyboards always a big success. The seven Toccatas by J.S. Bach date between 1708 and 1710. All are early works, some of them may even be composed earlier. We have here a youthful Bach, primarily interested in exploring the possibilities of virtuoso keyboard playing. All pieces follow an almost identical structural planning: "free-virtuoso-improvisatory" beginning ("a la Chromatic Fantasy") then an alternation of lively fugatos and strikingly beautiful slow movements. Those slow parts come each time with audacious harmonic progressions. They always surprise us with the scope of the musical imagination behind them. Even at times where they seem to extend "too much" in length, they must be looked as "transcriptions" of the endless musical imagination and skill of J.S. Bach improvising. CD Tracks: Toccata N.1 in D min. BWV 913
Toccata N.2 in E min. BWV 914 Toccata N.3 in F-sharp min. BWV 910 Toccata N.4 in G min. BWV 915 Toccata N.5 in D maj. BWV 912 Toccata N.6 in C min. BWV 911 Toccata N.7 in G maj. BWV 916
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