Concerto in G major
BWV 986 performed by Bart Naessens
at home in Bruges, Belgium
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
A sunny concerto
A keyboard concerto with and without orchestra
Bach arranged twenty concertos, i.e. works for orchestra and one or more solo instruments, for organ or harpsichord – and in some cases even for both. It is generally accepted that he did so in the years 1713-1714, when he was working at the court at Weimar. The original compositions were either Italian (e.g. by Vivaldi of Marcello) or composed in the Italian style by Telemann, for example. Three of the compositions were also written by the musical prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. Johann Ernst may actually have been the initiator of the transcriptions, as when he returned from a study trip to Utrecht in 1713, his luggage contained a batch of scores of Italian orchestral music published in Amsterdam.
Although it is not completely clear why Bach made these transcriptions, they undoubtedly contributed to his growing understanding of the Italian style. The composer of this ‘sunny’ Concerto in G major has remained anonymous. In his treatment of the very limited thematic material, Bach still demonstrates his great skill, as always. The Belgian harpsichordist Bart Naessens, who we visited in Bruges, says the work comes so naturally to the fingers that it is perfectly possible that the concerto arranged by Bach was also a keyboard concerto, but then with orchestra.
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 30 April 2020
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- Recording date
- 22 March 2017
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- Location
- Bruges, Belgium
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- Harpsichordist
- Bart Naessens
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- Harpsichord
- Geert Karman after Henri Hemsch
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- Director
- Jan Van den Bossche
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- Music recording, edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Camera and interview
- Gijs Besseling
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- Producer
- Hanna Schreuders
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