Sunday, November 23, 2008

ciaccona, the musical thought



























nathan milstein playing the ciaccona

various recordings of j.s. bach's chaconne

from sonaten und partiten für violine solo (bwv 1004)
aka les sonates et partites pour violon seul
sonatas and partitas for solo violin
sonate e partite per violino solo
completed in cöthen, 1720

- nathan milstein - angel records/emi - 1954-1956
- joseph szigeti - vanguard classics - (recorded) 1955, (edited) 1962
- arthur grumiaux - philips - 1961
- henryk szeryng - deutsche grammophon - 1968
- sándor végh - auvidis valois - 1971
- nathan milstein - deutsche grammophon - 1975
- gidon kremer - philips - 1980
- itzhak perlman - emi - 1990
- christoph poppen - ecm - 2001 (2 versions)
- rachel podger - channel classics - 2002
- gidon kremer - ecm - 2002
- john holloway - ecm - 2006
- maya homburger - maya - 2008

(link removed)

the work "survives in an autograph fair copy dated 1720 with the title 'sei solo a violino senza basso accompagnato libro prima'. several copies, including one by anna magdelena bach, evidently derive directly from this autograph but some incorporate remarkable discrepancies and variants, notably that by j.p. kellner (1726), thus leaving much for scholars and performers to contemplate." from oxford composer companions: j.s. bach edited by malcolm boyd - oxford university press - 1999

4 comments:

the art of memory said...

a growing collection, missing some good ones....

Domingo said...

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mike brotzman said...

Have you heard the Chaconne played on a classical guitar? It works much better - the lines of melody and accompaniment, which must be played sequentially (in simulation of simultaneity) on the violin, are played simultaneously on the guitar, and each strengthened as a result.

Here's my favorite Chaconne recording ever, ripped from an unfortunately very scratchy record I own. From "Andres Segovia Plays J.S. Bach":

www.michaelbrotzman.net/temp/Partita_No_2_in_D_for_Violin_BWV_1004-Chaconne.mp3 (12.3 MB) (only 128 kpbs - I can make a better rip if you want)

Thanks very much for the other recordings - I haven't heard many of them. You might want to track down one by Xuefei Yang (another classical guitarist) if you can - I saw her perform it brilliantly in Pittsburgh once.

the art of memory said...

thanks for the link, i didn't include guitar because it seemed like it would be for another post, and i had too many already.
i want to do some more in the future, most like keyboard favourites.

i do love segovia by the way, and some of the lute players are really amazing as well.

you can really go broke with bach.