DXL1017
J. S. Bach:
Italian Concerto
Terence Charlston - harpsichord

Playing time: 75 mins.

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Terence Charlston's mastery of historical performance practice and virtuoso technique marry to produce this truely outstanding CD of sparkling harpsichord repertoire.

Including the Chomatic Fantasia and Fugue (BWV 903) and also the well known Italian Concerto (BWV 971), this disc contains some of Bach’s key compositions for keyboard. Coupled with these, within an Italian theme, are some of his charming smaller-scale works such as his Aria variata (BWV 989) and the exquisite Aria from the Klavierbüchlein for Anna Magdalena Bach (BWV 988).

Given the stature of Italian music in the Baroque era, it is not surprising to find a vein of Italian musical style running through the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. The young Bach took the latest styles and clichés from Vivaldi and Albinoni and studied the music of Frescobaldi and Corelli for counterpoint and structure. Many of the forms in which he worked – including the fantasia, aria, toccata and fugue – were transplanted from Italy during the seventeenth century to find new roots north of the Alps. The pieces recorded here span Bach’s entire working life and show how these stock ideas profoundly influenced all the genres in which he worked.

Terence Charlston is a leading specialist performer of early keyboard music. He is professor of harpsichord and basso continuo at the Royal Academy of Music, London and an international authority on historical performance practice.

Track List

1. Toccata in D major BWV 912

2-3. Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor BWV 903

4-14. Aria variata in the Italian manner BWV 989

15-17. Italian Concerto in F major BWV 971

18. Aria from the Clavierbüchlein for Anna Magdalena Bach BWV 988

19. Prelude in C minor BWV 999

20-21. Prelude and Fughetta in G major BWV 902

22. Fantasia in C minor BWV 906

"Charlston plays with flair and naturally expressive timing and, as occasioned in the early Aria Variata BWV 989, with touching serenity. With a recording that finely captures the instrument's bite while avoiding thundering mechanical noise, even Beecham might have approved"
Edward Bhesania, CD of the Week, The Observer

"musically shaped and delivered by one who obviously knows well how to make the best use of a realy sensitively-weighted actioned and amplified harpsichord copy. I have been drawn by the completely persuasive playing of the music into placing it immediately among my most favoured Bach harpsichord discs."
Stephen Daw- Early Music Review Feb, 2002

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