Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonate en la mineur, BWV 1020 (attribuée à C.P.E. Bach)
Sonate en do majeur, BWV 1032
Sonate en sol majeur, BWV 1039
Choral "O Mensch, bewein' dein' Suende gross", BWV 622
Extraits de "15 dreistimmigen Sinfonien"
Trio super "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend", BWV 655
Fuga Canonica in epidiapente, extrait de "L'Offrande Musicale", BWV 1079
Extraits de "L'Art de la fugue", BWV 1080
Trio en ré mineur, BWV 583

Stefano Bagliano, flûtes à bec
Andrea Coen, clavecin, orgue

Bach n’a composé aucune œuvre de musique de chambre directement pour la flûte à bec. Les célèbres sonates BWV 1030-1035, notamment, ont été composées pour la flûte traversière. Mais Bach était un maître de la transcription et de l’arrangement, si bien que Stefano Bagliano et Andrea Coen ont eu peu de peine à assembler un programme complet pour flûte à bec et clavecin ou orgue. Au cœur de ce programme, on trouve trois sonates : la BWV 1032, jouée en Do au lieu de La ; la BWV 1039, écrite à l’origine pour la viole de gambe et dont il existe aussi une transcription pour deux flûtes traversières et basse continue ; et la BWV 1020, attribuée à Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach et jouée en La au lieu de Sol (NB : la pochette intervertit malheureusement cette sonate avec la BWV 1032, qui ouvre en réalité le disque). Entre ces trois sonates sont intercalées diverses petites pièces dans lesquelles le charme si singulier de la flûte à bec opère pleinement : atmosphère pastorale, innocente légèreté, gravité douce et suave liberté. (Emmanuel Lacoue-Labarthe)

Another Bach arrangements album? Stefano Bagliano and Andrea Coen present something a little different: sonatas, chorale preludes and fugues in a form of domestic music-making that Bach himself would have recognised and enjoyed. The first half of the 18th century was a period of intense evolution for instruments belonging to the flute family, as materials (wood to metal), sizes and ranges all developed prior to the key-system devised in the 19th century. The recorder (or pair thereof) which plays the starring role in the poignant sinfonia to Bach’s Actus Tragicus of 1708 is quite different to the lambent, creamy-toned flute played by Frederick the Great and for which he wrote the trio sonata belonging to the Musical Offering of 40 years later. Whether composed by JS or his son CPE, the sonata BWV1020 has a sunny disposition belying its minor key even in the lovely central Adagio. This version of BWV1039 – originally designed as a sonata for viola da gamba, BWV1027, then transcribed for two flutes and continuo – features the dark and velvety tone of the tenor recorder in D. Unlike most other recordings of the Flute Sonata BWV1032, Stefano Bagliano and Andrea Coen have completed the first movement from the point where 46 bars are missing from Bach’s manuscript, resulting in a more satisfying, musical experience. The chorale ‘O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde gross’, as the meditative climax of the Orgelbuchlein collection, proves delightfully amenable to an arrangement where the chorale line is taken by the melody instrument, and the two instruments pick out the liveliest inner workings of the Canonic Fugue from the Musical Offering as well as a pair of Contrapuncti from The Art of Fugue (Nos. 6 & 9). Two trio works originally composed with organ in mind round out the collection, which finds Andrea Coen adroitly shuttling between harpsichord and a chamber organ. With wonderfully varied textures and a poetic sensibility to be expected from these two experienced Baroque-era specialists, it’s a Bach album to treasure.