Sophie Yates - Bach: Transcriptions of Concertos by Vivaldi & Marcello (2013)

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Sophie Yates - Bach: Transcriptions of Concertos by Vivaldi & Marcello (2013)

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This recording brings together all the arrangements for harpsichord by Bach of instrumental concertos by his Italian contemporary Antonio Vivaldi, adding those of one concerto each by the brothers Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello. They are performed by Sophie Yates who has made a series of solo CDs for Chandos, many of which have won international awards. She has been described by Gramophone as ‘hugely talented’ and by BBC Music as playing ‘with exceptional poise’.

The concertos by Vivaldi are taken from three different sets: L’estro armonico, Op. 3, La stravaganza, Op. 4, and the set of twelve Concerti a cinque, Op. 7. These are all works which Vivaldi composed early in his career, when he was still making his reputation. For these concertos, Vivaldi chose a Dutch publisher, which crucially allowed the concertos to become available in Northern Europe. This in turn helped to increase the popularity of the concertos, not to mention the influence of Vivaldi’s style. In the words of The New Grove dictionary, L’estro armonico was ‘the most influential music publication of the first half of the eighteenth century’.

So why did Bach choose to tackle the difficult problem of conveying the quintessential Venetian violin sound on a keyboard instrument? One explanation could be that Bach transcribed these concertos for his own education, later adopting the new ideas in works such as the Concerto in the Italian Style for harpsichord. Or perhaps Bach simply enjoyed these works so much that he wanted to experiment with them. Yet another explanation is provided by the German musicologist Arnold Schering, who wrote: ‘we shall have to seek the purpose of these arrangements in practical music-making and be able to accept that within a short time the new concerto of the Italians became such a favourite that players wanted to be able to play the particularly popular concertos with their own two hands on clavichord or organ. Bach’s arrangements would then be considered to be what they really are: keyboard extractions, “for the soul’s refreshment of music-lovers”.’

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Sophie Yates

Reviews: Around 1714 Johann Sebastian Bach suddenly and apparently without provocation transcribed and adapted a number of Italian instrumental concertos, mainly by Antonio Vivaldi, for the keyboard. Why he did so is subject to some speculation, though it is often suggested that he had become aware of the publication a couple of years earlier in Amsterdam of Vivaldi’s op. 3 L’estro armonico , possibly through the efforts of his patron, Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. While it is true that his main duties in Weimar at the time were mainly as an organist, he also provided a host of other musical services, including secular concerts, for which these transcriptions were probably most adaptable. Moreover, they offered him the opportunity to absorb thoroughly the popular Italian style.

Clearly, a simple transcription would not suffice for the sort of work that Bach envisioned, and moreover there are inevitable difficulties in arranging the various orchestral ritornellos, though of course the unison openings offered an immediate solution. His arrangements often transpose the works to fit the keyboard compass better. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the version of Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe Concerto, now transposed up a whole step to D Minor, or in the C-Minor Concerto by his brother Benedetto, which was originally in E Minor. The result is to bring the works into a more intimate and manageable focus, even though they do not lose their often virtuoso lines. The result is somewhat of a tour de force that has intrigued keyboardists (mainly harpsichordists) for a long time. Moreover, the art of the transcription reaches pretty much its apex here, for one cannot deny that Bach has essentially turned these concertos into brand-new works, in essence deconstructing and recomposing already well-known and acknowledged significant pieces, thus giving them an alternative life.

The complexities of these transcriptions have induced a number of extremely fine recordings, such as the 2009 rendition by Olivier Baumont on Apex, the same year as Peter Watchorn also produced his versions on Hänssler and around the same time as Huguette Dreyfus released hers on Denon, just to name a few. One might wonder whether the market would support yet another rendition, but harpsichordist Sophie Yates certainly provides excellent competition. Her style tends to be quite robust, but on occasion, such as the slow movement of the G-Minor Concerto, the upper line seems to float almost magically above the steady marching bass, lending the whole a song-like beauty. In the fast movements, such as the brilliant opening of the F-Major Concerto, she performs with a power and precision that reinforces the force of the original ritornellos, contrasting some of the phrases by changing registration and keyboards (the works being done on a dual manual instrument). If I am not entirely prepared to favor this recording over others, I am certainly willing to place it on an equal level of performance. I find her interpretations both interesting and sensitive, and her playing is, to my ears, faultless. In short, this is a recording that is excellent and would be a fine addition, whether one collects all of the myriad renditions of these transcriptions or whether one is looking for an example of Bach’s fertile and facile imagination when recomposing the works of his contemporaries. Highly recommended.