Dorian Recordings

DOR-93242

J.S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
The Six Partitas for Keyboard,
BWV 825-830

Andrew Rangell, Piano

In 1726, at the age of 41, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kantor of the St. Thomas School and Director of Music to the main churches of Leipzig, issued his first published composition, a keyboard suite. From that year on, at a rate of one a year, five more suites were brought into print until 1731, when the collected six works were issued under one cover as Opus 1. The set is called the "partitas" and appeared under the general title of "Klavier-Übung" (Keyboard Practice) - both of these terms having been used for a similar collection in 1689 by Bach's Thomaskantor predecessor, Johann Kuhnau. It is of course a great irony that at the time of this "opus 1" its author had produced, over two decades, a stupendous body of work including, among many other works, the Well Tempered Klavier (bk. 1), the Brandenburg concertos, innumerable organ compositions, and while at Leipzig (i.e. since 1723) more than 250 church cantatas and the Matthew Passion! (None found print in Bach's lifetime.) …
- ©Andrew Rangell

DISC I

Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825
1 Praeludium 2:29
2 Allemande 3:35
3 Corrente 2:51
4 Sarabande 4:15
5 Menuet I 1:29
6 Menuet II 1:32
7 Gigue 2:18

Partita No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 826
8 Sinfonia 4:35
9 Allemande 5:07
10 Courante 2:29
11 Sarabande 3:39
12 Rondeaux 3:08
13 Capriccio 3:45

Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828
14 Ouverture 5:42
15 Allemande 6:07
16 Courante 3:43
17 Aria 2:30
18 Sarabande 4:22
19 Menuet 1:29
20 Gigue 3:51

Disc I Total Time: 68:48

DISC II

Partita No. 3 in A Minor, BWV 827
1 Fantasia 2:12
2 Allemande 3:21
3 Corrente 2:50
4 Sarabande 3:20
5 Burlesca 2:14
6 Scherzo 1:11
7 Gigue 3:19

Partita No. 5 in G Major, BWV 829
8 Praeambulum 2:11
9 Allemande 4:34
10 Corrente 1:39
11 Sarabande 3:48
12 Tempo di minuetto 2:33
13 Passepied 1:43
14 Gigue 3:07

Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830
15 Toccata 9:41
16 Allemande 3:51
17 Corrente 5:07
18 Air 1:33
19 Sarabande 5:49
20 Tempo di Gavotta 2:02
21 Gigue 3:52

Disc II Total Time: 69:50

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