Partitias BWV 827/830 [4137]

After some consideration, I have decided to begin with the AMB Notebooks. There are a few reasons for this: a) I am most familiar with these composisitons; b) I have heard several recorded performances of them; c) they seem like a better entry point to the set than the cantatas.

I'll need to do a short post about the cantatas--I peeked ahead and skipped around my favorite, BWV 147, and it is clear that Rilling will take some getting used to for me--but back to these partitias.

Okay, so I need to start off by saying that I am not even sure what a partitia is. There's a cure for that--I learn from an online music dictionary that a partita is just a suite (don't you hate it when dictionaries define a word with another word?). Here's the same dictionary's definition of "suite:"

Commonly describes an instrumental piece in several movements consisting of a sequence of dances. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the suite included the characteristic dance forms allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue. In the mid-18th century, the binary form feature of the dances was developed
into sonata form. The sonata and also the symphony then became the chief instrumental forms. In the l9th and 20th centuries the term describes a lighter work than a sonata. A suite may also describe a set of movements assembled from a ballet or opera score.

I am hearing these partitas for the first time. They are not included in the recording of AMB that I admire so much, but Igor Kipnis. If I recall, they were not included because he has recorded them elsewhere.

The performer here is Michael Behringer. His technique is clearly flawless. The engineering on these recordings has a bit too much reverb for me; to my ears, the sound is kind of wet. I am listening on the crappy Radio Shack headphones that came with the CD player, and I am also writing, so I'm not paying the closest attention.

Here's a link about Michael from the Bach Cantatas web site, which I love.