Day 18: Bach, Italian Concerto
Although this is called a concerto, it’s actually a piece
for unaccompanied harpsichord, although it is in 3 movements – fast-slow-fast –
as would be a concerto of the time. Now, according to the CD sleeve, what makes
this more of a concerto is that it uses a two-manual harpsichord, which
apparently means that the two different manuals have different tone qualities,
so the one can sound rather like an orchestral tutti, and the other like the
soloists! My words, so they probably don’t make much sense!
This was a piece we studied for O level – around about the
time that J.S.Bach was composing! Though I am not a very good pianist, I did
have a go at this on the piano, and managed to play the first movement, albeit
at about half the speed it is supposed to go! In reality, the first movements goes at breakneck speed! This is beautifully played on my CD which has Wanda Landowska playing
the harpsichord; she was originally from Warsaw, but she taught in Berlin and
later settled in Paris. She made some very early recordings of Bach harpsichord
works, including the Goldberg Variations. The only other thing I know about her is that someone took an X-ray of her hands and hung it as a work of art.
