Ton Koopman

Six Partitas for harpsichord (Clavier Übung I) BWV 825-830

Price: € 14.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917257427
Catnr: CC 72574
Release date: 18 April 2013
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917257427
Catalogue number
CC 72574
Release date
18 April 2013

"This is altogether a very welcome recording indeed from a great player in his full maturiry."

Early Music Review, 01-8-2013
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Artist(s)
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About the album

For a long time Baroque and Bach specialst Koopman wanted to record this masterpieces of Bach and now was the time to do it! Recorded in the trusted and beautiful-sounding Walloon Church in Amsterdam.

My recording of Bach’s harpsichord partitas was a long time in coming. The main reason was a lack of time (recording Bach’s complete organ works, complete cantatas and Dieterich Buxtehude’s Opera Omnia required much time and attention). Another factor was my respect for these masterpieces by Bach – they are not something to just fit in between other projects. I already had plans to record them in the 1990s, for Erato, and now that I finally am able to, it is for my own label. They were recorded in the trusted and beautiful-sounding Walloon Church in Amsterdam, with the famous recording duo of Tini Mathot and Adriaan Verstijnen, using my own Kroesbergen/Ruckers harpsichord and Werckmeister III tuning.

The Library of Congress possesses a printed copy of the Clavier-Übung that has Bach’s own handwritten notes and additions. There has been discussion about the meaning of these, but I think this copy gives definitive answers – these are corrections and additions made by Bach himself that do not appear in any modern editions of the partitas. Christoph Wolff talks about them in his introduction in this CD booklet. Significant, for example, is the addition in Bach’s hand to the second partita, in the transition in the sinfonia from its second to third section: there stands allegro, and a measure later, adagio. Until Christoph Wolff made this discovery, nobody knew what to do with these measures, and even now they are seldom or never played this way.
Ton Koopman
Eindelijk een opname van Bachs meesterlijke partitas door Ton Koopman
Eindelijk heeft Ton Koopman de partita’s voor clavecimbel van Johann Sebastian Bach opgenomen! Hij wilde deze meesterlijke composities al lange tijd opnemen, maar had een gebrek aan tijd. Hij was druk bezig met de opnames van alle cantates en orgelwerken van Bach, en het volledige oeuvre van Dieterich Buxtehude. Daarnaast heeft Koopman ook veel respect voor de partita’s. Hij wilde ze niet zomaar tussen twee projecten in opnemen.

De partita’s werden opgenomen in de prachtig klinkende Walloon Kerk in Amsterdam, met het beroemde opnameduo Tini Mathot en Adriaan Verstijnen. Koopman gebruikte zijn eigen Kroesbergen/Ruckers klavecimbel, in de Werckmeister III stemming. De zes partita’s, gepresenteerd onder de naam Clavier-Übung I, zijn de eerste werken voor toetsinstrument die Bach zelf uitgaf. Bach probeerde mogelijk een werk te componeren dat vergelijkbaar was met Händels Pieces pour le Clavecin. De partitta’s vormen Bachs laatste en meest volgroeide werk op het gebied van de suites.

Ton Koopman staat in Nederland bekend als de barok- en Bachspecialist, en is ook internationaal vermaard. Hij heeft een grondige kennis op het gebied van Bach en Buxtehude door musicologisch onderzoek. Met zijn Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra treedt hij over de hele wereld op. Daarnaast bespeelt Koopman ook het orgel en het klavecimbel.
Für die Aufnahme der Vokalwerke von Buxtehude erhielt Ton Koopman den Echo Klassik, weitere Preise und Ehrungen wurden ihm für zahlreiche Einspielungen zuteil, darunter sogar eine Goldene Schallplatte für 10.000 verkaufte Aufnahmen der Matthäus-Passion von J.S. Bach. Koopman gilt bekanntermaßen weltweit als absoluter Experte der Barockmusik. Der Forscher und Musiker hegte über viele Jahre den Wunsch Bachs Partiten einzuspielen. Jetzt setzte er sich ans Cembalo und spielte die Sechs Partiten aus dem 1. Buch der Clavierübung ein. Die auch klanglich hervorragende Aufnahme, die in der Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam entstand, setzt einen weiteren Glanzpunkt in Koopmans Diskographie.

Artist(s)

Ton Koopman

Ton Koopman was born in Zwolle in 1944. After a classical education he studied organ, harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam and was awarded the Prix d'Excellence for both instruments. From the beginning of his musical studies he was fascinated by authentic instruments and a performance style based on sound scholarship and in 1969, at the age of 25, he created his first Baroque orchestra. In 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra followed by the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992. Koopman's extensive and impressive activities as a soloist, accompanist and conductor have been recorded on a large number of LPs and CDs for labels like Erato, Teldec, Sony, Philips and DG, besides his own record label “Antoine Marchand”, distributed by Challenge...
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Ton Koopman was born in Zwolle in 1944. After a classical education he studied organ, harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam and was awarded the Prix d'Excellence for both instruments. From the beginning of his musical studies he was fascinated by authentic instruments and a performance style based on sound scholarship and in 1969, at the age of 25, he created his first Baroque orchestra. In 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra followed by the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992.
Koopman's extensive and impressive activities as a soloist, accompanist and conductor have been recorded on a large number of LPs and CDs for labels like Erato, Teldec, Sony, Philips and DG, besides his own record label “Antoine Marchand”, distributed by Challenge Records.
Over the course of a forty-five-year career Ton Koopman has appeared in the most important concert halls and festivals of the five continents. As an organist he has performed on the most prestigious historical instruments of Europe, and as a harpsichord player and conductor of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir he has been a regular guest at venues which include the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Philharmonie in Munich, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York and leading concert halls in Vienna, London, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, Salzburg, Tokyo and Osaka.
Between 1994 and 2004 Ton Koopman has been engaged in a unique project, conducting and recording all the existing Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, a massive undertaking for which he has been awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis "Echo Klassik", the BBC Award 2008, the Prix Hector Berlioz, has been nominated for the Grammy Award (USA) and the Gramophone Award (UK). In 2000 Ton Koopman has received an Honorary Degree from the Utrecht University for his academic work on the Bach Cantatas and Passions and has been awarded both the prestigious Silver Phonograph Prize and the VSCD Classical Music Award. In 2006 he has received the « Bach-Medaille » from the City of Leipzig. Recently Ton Koopman has embarked on another main project: the recording of the whole works by Dietrich Buxtehude, one of the great inspirer of the young J.S. Bach. The recording will be accomplished in 2010 with the release of 30 CDs. Ton Koopman is President of the “International Dieterich Buxtehude Society”. Ton Koopman is very active as a guest conductor and he has collaborated with many prominent orchestras in Europe, USA and Japan. He has been Principal Conductor of the Netherland Radio Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, DSO Berlin, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Wiener Symphoniker. In the following season he will work on new programmes with the New York Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestra RAI in Turin, Stockholm Philharmonic, Tonhalle in Zurich. After the great success of his tour at the beginning of 2008, Ton Koopman has been nominated Artist in Residence at the Cleveland Orchestra for three consecutive years starting in 2011. Ton Koopman publishes regularly and for a number of years he has been engaged in editing the complete Händel Organ Concertos for Breitkopf & Härtel. Recently he has published Händel’s Messiah and Buxtehude‘s Das Jüngeste Gericht for Carus. Ton Koopman leads the class of harpsichord at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, is Professor at the University of Leiden and is a Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Ton Koopman is artistic director of the French Festival “Itinéraire Baroque”.

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Composer(s)

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.  Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.  
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Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.


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Press

This is altogether a very welcome recording indeed from a great player in his full maturiry.
Early Music Review, 01-8-2013

Putting the art in Partita
BBC Music Magazine, 01-7-2013

Ton Koopman plays enthralling from the beginning with brio, disarming sovereignty and exuberant enthusiasm
Toccata, 01-7-2013

Big effects are a hall mark of Koopman's style. The playing throughout these suites is consistently extrovert and red-blooded, with frequent changes of registration on the robust Ruckers-style instrument by Willem Kroesbergen. [...] Koopman creates a rich drama of dymnamic contrasts, thin flutey sounds alternating with grander, thicker, coupled passages, in orchestral style.
Grammophone, 01-5-2013

In the end, Koopman's vision might be too animated in some parts, but it is completely consistent
Luister, 22-4-2013

It is impressing, with which kind of self-conception and meticulousness Koopman approaches to each composition.
klassik.com

Play album
Disc #1
01.
Partita 1 (BWV 825): Praeludium
02:00
02.
Partita 1 (BWV 825): Allemande
05:02
03.
Partita 1 (BWV 825): Corrente
03:02
04.
Partita 1 (BWV 825): Sarabande
05:30
05.
Partita 1 (BWV 825): Menuet I & II
02:44
06.
Partita 1 (BWV 825): Gigue
02:45
07.
Partita 2 (BWV 826): Sinfonia
04:32
08.
Partita 2 (BWV 826): Allemande
04:29
09.
Partita 2 (BWV 826): Courante
02:37
10.
Partita 2 (BWV 826): Sarabande
02:48
11.
Partita 2 (BWV 826): Rondeaux
01:39
12.
Partita 2 (BWV 826): Capriccio
04:08
13.
Partita 6 (BWV 830): Toccata
06:00
14.
Partita 6 (BWV 830): Allemande
03:56
15.
Partita 6 (BWV 830): Corrente
05:13
16.
Partita 6 (BWV 830): Air
01:25
17.
Partita 6 (BWV 830): Sarabande
04:48
18.
Partita 6 (BWV 830): Tempo di Gavotta
02:04
19.
Partita 6 (BWV 830): Gigue
06:11

Disc #2
01.
Partita 3 (BWV 827): Fantasia
02:09
02.
Partita 3 (BWV 827): Allemande
03:44
03.
Partita 3 (BWV 827): Corrente
03:46
04.
Partita 3 (BWV 827): Sarabande
04:06
05.
Partita 3 (BWV 827): Burlesca
02:07
06.
Partita 3 (BWV 827): Scherzo
01:20
07.
Partita 3 (BWV 827): Gigue
03:34
08.
Partita 4 (BWV 828): Ouverture
06:02
09.
Partita 4 (BWV 828): Allemande
06:48
10.
Partita 4 (BWV 828): Courante
03:47
11.
Partita 4 (BWV 828): Aria
02:09
12.
Partita 4 (BWV 828): Sarabande
05:47
13.
Partita 4 (BWV 828): Menuet
01:17
14.
Partita 4 (BWV 828): Gigue
04:29
15.
Partita 5 (BWV 829): Praeambulum
02:33
16.
Partita 5 (BWV 829): Allemande
05:38
17.
Partita 5 (BWV 829): Corrente
01:59
18.
Partita 5 (BWV 829): Sarabande
04:01
19.
Partita 5 (BWV 829): Tempo di Minuetta
01:46
20.
Partita 5 (BWV 829): Passepied
02:08
21.
Partita 5 (BWV 829): Gigue
04:27
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