J.S. Bach:Concerti - Ciaconna & Partita

Skip Sempé

Released on 27/09/93 by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
Main artists: Skip Sempé
Genre: Classical

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For Skip Sempe, the point of playing Bach on the harpsichord is not to re-create the music, but to create the music; not to perform the music, but to compose the music. Now, of course, that's ridiculous: Bach wrote the music, not Sempe, and anyone who says otherwise is ready for the Happy Dale Asylum. And yet, while listening to this recital by Sempe, one is strangely, inexplicably, uncannily under the delusion that Sempe did indeed compose the music he's performing. It's not that there's a great deal of freedom to Sempe's playing, although he does play with more freedom than any harpsichordist since Landowska. And it's not that Sempe has improvised a transcription of Bach's "Ciaccona in D" from the Partita for solo violin, BWV 1004, although that, too, is the case. It's that Sempe has re-imagined himself inside the music; re-imagined the counterpoint, the harmonies, the rhythm, the color, the articulation, and the structure; re-imagined everything in the works he performs so that his performances don't sound like performances but like improvised compositions. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Sempe is a marvelous virtuoso whose technique is matched by his flamboyant interpretations. But one comes away from this disc with the weird sensation that it is Sempe, not Bach, who composed these works. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's digital sound is clear, warm, and vivid.

© TiVo

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J.S. Bach:Concerti - Ciaconna & Partita

Skip Sempé

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Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004: Ciaccona

00:11:01

Skip Sempé, Harpsichord - Jan Höfermann, Executive Producer - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Georges Kisselhoff, Producer - Georges Kisselhoff, Recording Engineer

(P)1993 BMG Entertainment

Harpsichord Concerto No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1054 (Johann Sebastian Bach)

I. Allegro

00:06:50

Skip Sempé, Harpsichord - Capriccio Stravagante, Performer - Jan Höfermann, Executive Producer - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Georges Kisselhoff, Producer - Georges Kisselhoff, Recording Engineer

(P)1993 BMG Entertainment

II. Adagio e piano sempre

00:05:25

(P)1993 BMG Entertainment

III. Allegro

00:02:31

Skip Sempé, Harpsichord - Capriccio Stravagante, Performer - Jan Höfermann, Executive Producer - Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Georges Kisselhoff, Recording Engineer - Georges Kisselhoff, Producer

(P)1993 BMG Entertainment

Partita for Harpsichord No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828 (Johann Sebastian Bach)

I. Ouverture

00:06:02