Francesco Tristano - Bach: English Suites - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The fourth stage of Francesco Tristano's Bach journey with naïve is the complete set of six French Suites (BWV 812-817, c. 1722-1725). This work often leaves performers somewhat disconcerted, and few performers play it in it's entirety. It's spareness and almost ingenuous simplicity conceal the quintessence of aesthetic form. The restrained writing and the radical brevity of it's ideas and motifs belie a subtle chemistry of contrasts, for example in the Suite in E major, BWV 817. This gem, comprising nine finely balanced movements, offers an almost unique overview of the Baroque dance repertoire (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gavotte, Bourrée, Gigue, Polish Minuet, Little Minuet {à la française}). Francesco Tristano performs the revised version of the Suite, prefaced by the Prelude in E major from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier.The cycle of six French Suites remains the first through which this Luxembourg pianist immersed himself deeply and enduringly in Bach, admiring as he does their quiet beauty and curious serenity. For him, the French Suites are lyrical and melodic yet also incisive, as if imbued with vivid spontaneity and without the slightest hint of haste. Density through compression is perhaps the true aim of the French Suites-after the expansion of forms at work in the six English Suites (the only earlier surviving set of French-style suites by J. S. Bach; see naïve V 8828, 2025)-before we reach the miraculous synthesis achieved in the first part of the Clavier-Übung (the six Partitas; naïve V 8619, 2024).In this new stage of his journey with Bach-a composer whose complete keyboard works he ultimately hopes to record-Francesco Tristano favors a really warm sound, very soft, underscoring the more intimate tone of the collection (e.g. Suite BWV 814, Allemande; Suite BWV 815, Sarabande; Suite BWV 813, Air), in marked contrast to the more trumpet-like atm

The versatility of the suite form proved well suited to Johann Sebastian Bach in his instrumental works, and the English Suites are no exception. These are distinct from Bach's other suites with their quasi-improvisatory opening Preludes, and further movements encompassing a wide range of moods and styles from lively dances to the pensive intensity of the slow Sarabandes. The Montenegrin Guitar Duo's fresh and historically informed performances of these works have been acclaimed as Inchsimply ravishingInch (American Record Guide). The Montenegrin Guitar Duo is frequently invited to venues such as the Philharmonia Hall in Saint Petersburg, Manuel de Falla Hall in Madrid, and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. International festivals regularly engage the duo to give recitals, deliver lectures and masterclasses, and adjudicate major competitions. In 2013 their debut album was released by the Montenegrin Music Centre, featuring works by Domeniconi, Piazzolla and Bogdanovic. The first of their two volumes of Bach's English Suites was released in 2015 and received excellent reviews. Album Tracks 1. English Suite No.4 in C Major, BWV 809 2. English Suite No. 5 in B minor, BWV 810 3. English Suite No. 6 in a Minor, BWV 811

Sometimes, dreams come true. For Francesco Tristano, the dream was twofold first a desire to project his art in the future by devoting himself to one of the most incontestably timeless figures in the history of music, Johann Sebastian Bach. This profound desire fuelled the creation of intothefuture, Francesco Tristano's very personal line of recordings, where sounds morph into an abstract and subtly poetic photographic imagery, which is found in the booklets. This first of these recordings, dedicated to the six Partitas (BWV 825 to BWV 830) is a perfect illustration of this concept. For this pianist from Luxembourg, this collection constituted the starting point of his patient exploration of Bach's work. In fact, it also represents the composer's supreme achievement in the genre of the keyboard dance suite. Also known as the InchGerman suitesInch, to differentiate them from the two collections of InchEnglishInch (BWV 806 to BWV 811) and InchFrenchInch (BWV 812 to BWV 817) suites, the 6 Partitas belong to the rare compositions that Bach had published during his lifetime, as the first part of the Clavier-ubung - from 1726 to 1730, then all six in 1731. Composed separately, probably one after the other, these six suites, an infinite kaleidoscope of moods, were to embody his plural and abundant art, in a supreme synthesis of the tastes of the time.With their lively tempos (Partita III, Fantasia; Partita I, Allemande; Partita V, Tempo di Minuetto; Partita VI, Corrente), their very lively phrasing (Partita I, Gigue; Partita II, Capriccio; Partita VI, Toccata; Partita II, Courante), the six Partitas according to Francesco Tristano, a musician with an inexhaustible vivacity of mind, celebrate life everywhere. This impression of a whirlwind, this sense of movement are irresistible! Once again, Francesco Tristano is here in a class of his own.24 SEPTEMBRE 2024