| 1 CD |
€ 19.95
|
Preorder |
| Label Challenge Classics |
UPC 0608917200591 |
Catalogue number CC 720059 |
Release date 06 November 2026 |
With Improvised Bach, cellist Víctor García García invites listeners into the living, breathing world of Johann Sebastian Bach, where composition, performance and improvisation were once inseparable arts. Centred around Bach’s Partita No. 1 for Solo Violin (performed here in a rare historical cello transcription) the album reimagines the composer’s music through newly improvised preludes, doubles and ornamented repeats, all rooted in Bach’s original harmonic language while revealing fresh expressive possibilities. In 2024 Victor was awarded First Prize at the Bach International Competition in Leipzig. He is a Professor of Historical Cello at the HKU Utrecht Conservatorium and also in Scotland's St.Andrews University. Research is an important part of his work besides his musicianship.
Rather than treating Bach’s masterpieces as untouchable monuments, Victor García García approaches them as a vibrant musical language that continues to evolve in performance.. Drawing inspiration from eighteenth-century improvisational practice, each improvised piece becomes a musical dialogue across three centuries, capturing the spontaneity of the moment while remaining deeply faithful to Bach’s style. The result is a compelling recording gives listeners the opportunity to hear familiar works with renewed curiosity, imagination and wonder.
Mit Improvised Bach lädt der Cellist Víctor García García die Hörerinnen und Hörer in die lebendige Welt Johann Sebastian Bachs ein, in der Komposition, Interpretation und Improvisation einst untrennbar miteinander verbunden waren. Im Mittelpunkt steht Bachs Partita Nr. 1 für Violine solo, die hier in einer seltenen historischen Transkription für Violoncello erklingt. Das Album eröffnet neue Perspektiven auf Bachs Musik durch eigens improvisierte Präludien, Doubles und verzierte Wiederholungen. Sie alle sind tief in Bachs ursprünglicher harmonischer Sprache verwurzelt und erschließen zugleich neue expressive Möglichkeiten.
2024 wurde Víctor García García beim Internationalen Bach Wettbewerb in Leipzig mit dem Ersten Preis ausgezeichnet. Er ist Professor für historisches Violoncello am HKU Utrechts Conservatorium und lehrt zudem an der University of St Andrews in Schottland. Neben seiner künstlerischen Tätigkeit bildet die Forschung einen wichtigen Bestandteil seiner Arbeit.
Anstatt Bachs Meisterwerke als unantastbare Monumente zu behandeln, versteht Víctor García García sie als eine lebendige musikalische Sprache, die sich in der Aufführung immer weiterentwickelt. Inspiriert von der Improvisationspraxis des 18. Jahrhunderts wird jedes improvisierte Stück zu einem musikalischen Dialog über drei Jahrhunderte hinweg. Dabei bewahrt es die Spontaneität des Augenblicks und bleibt zugleich Bachs Stil tief verbunden. So entsteht eine fesselnde Aufnahme, die vertraute Werke mit neuer Neugier, Fantasie und Staunen erleben lässt.
I love playing the cello, organizing concerts, meeting inspiring artists, learning from them and creating new paths for the historically informed performance practice movement to be able to develop. I love improvisation, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, a beautiful basso continuo line and the great cellist performers-improvisers-composers of the 19th Century.
I am a Spanish cellist specialized in historical performance. I enjoy playing in different settings, be it as a soloist, chamber musician and as an orchestra player. Alongside my activities as a performer, my interest towards research led me to obtaining the Doctor of Performing Arts degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of St Andrews, focusing on the performance practice of cellists that lived around Beethoven. I also have a special interest in teaching, and I have the priviledge to be the professor for historical cello at the HKU Utrecht Conservatorium.
In 2024, I was awarded the 1st Prize at the Bach International Competition in Leipzig, as well as the 1st Prize in the York Early Music Competition, as a member of the ensemble Ayres Extemporae, where I plays the violoncello piccolo. As part of Ayres Extemporae, I also won the 2nd Prize in the Biagio Marini Competition in Neuburg 2022 and the First Prize and Audience Prize at the emerging ensembles platform of the Semana de Música Antigua de Estella. As part of Duo Auxesis, he obtained the First Prize, “Music and Space” Prize and Audience Prize at the Händel Competition in Göttingen in 2022. I was also awarded the Second Prize in 2013 at the Witold Lutoslawski Cello Competition in Warsaw.
I was Artist in Residence in the Schloss Weissenbrunn Music Academy in the 2022 season. In 2021, I received the AAOBS-Femás scholarship of the Baroque Orchestra of Seville and the Prize “Andalusian of the Future” in the cultural category.
Following my studies at the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía with Prof. Shakhovskaya, I obtained my Bachelor Degree and a Master in Soloist Performance at the University of Arts in Berlin, in the class of Prof. Jens Peter Maintz. After that, I continued my education with David Watkin at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where I obtained a master’s degree in Historically Informed Performance Practice.
I performs regularly with ensembles such as the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, the Utopia Orchestra and the Millenium Orchestra. I have been part of the Monteverdi Apprentices Programme at the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the Collegium Vocale Gent Academy and the Academy of the Balthasar Neumann Ensembles.
As a soloist, I have performed with orchestras such as the Baroque Orchestra of Seville, Ensemble Esperanza, Orchester am Treppenhaus Hannover, Malaga Philharmonie, and the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.
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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