Alejandro Marías - J.S. Bach- 3 + 1 Viola da Gamba Sonatas (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

Alejandro Marías and Jordan Fumadó inmerse themselves in Bach’s three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, in a sumptuous sounding performance of Bach’s masterpieces.

Both artists deliver superb ensemble playing and refined and intense performances in this album, which also includes a reading of Bach’s Sonata BWV1030 from Johann Friedrich Hering’s manuscript.

Anyone who reads Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s concise and pioneering biography of Bach (1802) and Philipp Spitta’s magnifying and almost overwhelming biography (1873/1880) will come across two very different portraits of the German composer. The first emphasizes mastery of his craft trade, inherited from several generations of his ancestors, and almost tip-toes around his religious affiliation and the second, on the contrary, introduces us to Bach as an Archicantor, a musician at the service of the Lutheran faith; an approach very much in keeping with Spitta’s family background, as a son and brother of theologians. Both biographies coincide, however, in extra-musical circumstances, linked to the two historical moments in which they were written.

Forkel dedicates his book, published in the midst of the Napoleonic campaigns, to “patriotic admirers of true musical art” and in his prologue, he refers to Bach’s legacy as “an invaluable national patrimony” and appeals to “all true Germans” to make their own “patriotic endeavor” to rescue his biography subject from oblivion. He ends his study, a few dozen pages later, in this same vein: “And this man —the greatest musical poet and the greatest musical orator that ever existed, and who probably will exist— he was a German. Be proud of him, homeland; be proud, but also be worthy of him!” …

TRACKLIST

1. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027: I. Adagio
2. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027: II. Allegro ma non tanto
3. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027: III. Andante
4. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Major, BWV 1027: IV. Allegro moderato
5. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in D Major, BWV 1028: I. Adagio
6. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in D Major, BWV 1028: II. Allegro
7. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in D Major, BWV 1028: III. Andante
8. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in D Major, BWV 1028: IV. Allegro
9. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1029: I. Vivace
10. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1029: II. Adagio
11. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1029: III. Allegro
12. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1030b [after Hering manuscript]: I. [Andante]
13. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1030b [after Hering manuscript]: II. Siciliano [Largo e dolce]
14. Alejandro Marías - Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1030b [after Hering manuscript]: III. Presto



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