Three Gamba Sonatas

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 1964

Label: Concert-Disc

Concert-Disc, an Everest Records Production.

"Stereo" sticker: 'Even though the label and jacket of this record may be marked monaural and with our monaural numbers, this recording is TRUE STEREO. The numbering systems we have used for monaural will now apply to stereo.'



These three Sonatas, originally composed for Viola de Gamba and cembalo, were composed by Bach between 1717 and 1723 at Cöthen.
They are all beautifully illustrative of Baroque concepts of musical thought. On the most obvious level, they all adhere to the concerto principle -- the contrast in all facets -- insofar as the various tempi of the movements are concerned: there is constant alternation between slow and fast. On a more technical level, we see that the slower movements have longer phrases, more linear than faster thematic materials; these slower movements are aria-like, and harmonically further reaching than faster movements. On the other hand, the faster sections are organically bound together by short phrases, with choral type themes, which lend themselves to necessary permutations, for development.

The role of the keyboard instrument is not mere accompaniment; rather, it is an integral part. If not engaged in imitative passages, it carries the harmonic framework or makes transitions.

The first sonata has four movements; the first is a dialogue in graceful, imitative phrases which really encompass one large arch, taking the music from tonic to dominant. The second movement is an imitative allegro, using sprightly phrases which beautifully lend themselves to inversion; it is in an ABA design, wherein the B section becomes development of the A section, creating a self-contained musical gesture. The third movement is an andante, taking the work from the mediant to the sub-mediant, harmonically; again, it is one large movement, with a magnificent change to the major mode, halfway through, and a dramatically long crescendo-diminuendo at the end. As we would expect, the fourth movement is a beautifully balanced imitative movement in allegro tempo.

The second sonata has only three movements. The first movement is an adagio, similar to the first movement of the first sonata, taking the music from the tonic to the dominant. The second movement is an allegro in binary form, which is again in the tonic key. The third movement is dancelike, with a constant motor rhythm.

The third sonata is also in three movements, consisting of a vivace first movement in ABA design, a binary second movement with long, broad musical lines, and an allegro third movement, typically imitative, with two alternating themes.

Although by no means "monumental," in the sens of the Passions, Brandenburgs, or some of the great Cantatas, these Sonatas represent some of the most consistently high quality music in Bach's total works. They are typical manifestations of Bach, the working composer, and as such, perhaps tell us more about his genius than the more well-known works.
-- Edward Applebaum

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