Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen", BWV 12
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Geist und Seel wird verwirret", BWV 35
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Ich geh und suche mit verlangen", BWV 49
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht", BWV 52
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal", BWV 146
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Ich stzh mit einem Fuss im Grabe", BWV 156
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Gott soll allein lein Herze haben", BWV 169
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte", BWV 174
Sinfonia de la Cantate "Ich habe meine Zuversicht", BWV 188

Takashi Watanabe, orgue
Ensemble Cordia
Stefano Vegetti, direction

Entre 1726 et 1729, Bach reprend à Leipzig son style des cantates de Weimar : pas de chœurs introductifs, mais des sinfonias. En les réunissant, ce disque offre à qui connaît son Bach l’occasion de s’extasier sur son talent formidable pour faire du neuf avec du vieux : elles proviennent en effet pour la plupart (BWV 35, 49, 146, 156, 169, 188) de concertos perdus (pour violon, flûte ou hautbois) arrangés d’abord en concertos pour clavecin (BWV 1052, 1053, 1056 et 1059) avant de passer à l’orgue. D’autres (BWV 52 et 174) empruntent les premiers mouvements des Concertos Brandebourgeois 1 et 3 en les enrichissant. S’y ajoute une seule sinfonia originale, celle de la célèbre « Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen » BWV 12… composée justement à Weimar. Dans les œuvres avec orgue Takashi Watanabe déploie des guirlandes fluides qui emportent l’adhésion, et sa prestation au clavecin dans les autres ne passe pas inaperçue malgré la modestie de sa partie. L’Ensemble Cordia au contraire me paraît défavorisé par une prise de son qui le fait sonner gras et compact alors qu’on ressent son dynamisme et sa maîtrise technique : petite frustration qui n’enlève rien au plaisir de traquer les différences entre avatars d’œuvres bien connues. (Olivier Eterradossi)

Familiar and little-known masterpieces of concertante writing by Bach in an unfamiliar context and sparkling new performances. By transcribing its haunting Sinfonia for two pianos, György Kurtág gave the early ‘Actus Tragicus’ funeral cantata by Bach a second life. He was only following good Bachian practice, which was to make the best of what was available to him. In his sinfonias, Bach often reused movements from previously composed longer instrumental works – some of them now lost in their original, others still very much with us, such as the Brandenburg Concertos. When adapting the first movement of the Third as the opening gambit of BWV174, Bach added wind and a pair of virtuoso horn parts with a flair and audacity that would make most modern transcribers quail. The album ends with a much straighter transcription of the exuberant hunt music for the horn-led first movement to Brandenburg No.1 repurposed as the Sinfonia to BWV52. Several of his sinfonias call upon the services of an organist who takes centre stage – perhaps Bach himself, though he may have been writing for a visiting soloist. Here is the expansive opening movement, in a startling new guise as the Sinfonia to BWV146, of the magnificent D minor Harpsichord Concerto which, along with the Fifth Brandenburg, became effectively the Old Testament for the Romantic-era piano concerto. The original source for the sinfonia to BWV169 is now lost, but its material is shared with the better-known Harpsichord Concerto BWV1053. This is the Bach concertos album you never knew you could have; the sinfonias are too rarely heard outside their original sacred context. Here they are performed on ‘period’ instruments by the experienced hands of Ensemble Cordia, who have assembled an impressive catalogue of Baroque favourites and rarities on Brilliant Classics, with the starring role given to their regular continuo player, Takashi Watanabe.