Kenneth Gilbert: J.S. Bach Six concerti after Vivaldi and other masters.
Released 1971 by Orion ORS 7156
The harpsichord used in this recording was made by Rainer Schutze of Heidelberg, Germany. It is virtually a copy of the 17th century Flemish instruments in all points of construction (soundboard, stringing and measurements) relating to the sound;
the plectra are of a special quill-like material which imparts a ringing quality to the attack, immediately recognizable to any listener who has heard surviving instruments of the period
Thanks to Daniël, who let me browse the famous Daniël Beuman harpsichord collection

00:00 1 Cto. No. 7 in F – after Vivaldi: Concerto Grosso, Op. 3, No.3 BWV 978
07:26 2 Cto. No. 16 in d – after Duke Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar: Concerto, Opus 1, No. 4 BWV 987
13:57 3 Cto. No.2 in G – after Vivaldi: Concerto Grosso, Op. 7, Bk. 2, No.2 BWV 973
21:01 4 Cto. No. 14 in g – after Telemann: An unknown Concerto for violin BWV 985
28:05 5 Cto. No. 11 in Bb – after Duke Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar: Cto., Op. 1, No. 1 BWV 982
35:53 6 Cto. No. 5 in C – after Vivaldi: Concerto Grosso, Op. 3, No. 12 BWV 976

During the nearly ten years which he spent at the
Ducal court in Weimar, Bach arranged for keyboard
many solo and orchestral concertos by various
masters; violin concertos by Vivaldi, oboe concertos
by Telemann and Marcello, and a couple
whose original sources scholars have been unable
to trace. In all, sixteen of these have come down to
us. Why were these arrangements made? We do not
know.
Forkel, Bach’s earliest biographer, suggests that
“he (Bach) so often had heard them (Vivaldi’s
concertos) praised as admirable compositions that
he conceived the happy idea of arranging them for
solo clavier. He studied the chains of the ideas,
their relation to each other, the variation of the
modulations, and many other particulars. The
change necessary to be made in the ideas and
passages composed for the violin, but not suitable
to the clavier, taught him to think musically; so that
after his labour was completed, he no longer needed’
to expect ideas from his fingers, but could derive
them from his own fancy.” (tr. Stephenson, 1808).
In short, Bach, tben a man in his early 20’s, used
these concertos by Vivaldi and others as models for
the sort of composition which was to bear fruit in
the sinfonias for his Cantatas, the original concertos
for solo instruments and orchestra and, best
of all, in the Brandenburg Concertos.
Arrangements these works certainly are, but hardly
mere transcriptions. Here and there Bach weaves a
new counterpoint to Vivaldi’s sometimes bald narrative;
the violin figurations are reworked into brilliant
keyboard writing and all is permeated by th~
sheer luxury of sound and high spirits.
Bach looked fortunately beyond the Italian
school. Telemann, whose acquaintance he had made
while at Weimar, often figured prominently in the
programmes of the Ducal orchestra in which Bach
played. Two transcriptions of Telemann concertos
exist. The Duke himself, no mean amateur, was a
pupil of Bach’s and several of his aristocratic
offerings were dutifully transcribed by his Konzertmeister.
It may be that the transcriptions of these
latter works derive from sketches which Bach made
for the ever-present harpsichord and ‘cello continuo
for these concerted performances. If sLich is the
case, the revised and polished concertos for solo
keyboard show few traces of their empiric origin.
Here is a list of the originals of the wqrks recorded
here. One could hardly do better than to compare
them with Bach’s masterful reworking. In itself this
would form a lesson in composition for the curious.

#RainerSchutze #KennethGilbert