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Bach - Concertos for two harpsichords
Olivier Fortin
Emmanuel Frankenberg
Ensemble Masques
Qobuz 24/96




Marvellous interpretations of pieces I never tire hearing.
We saw Olivier Fortin with Skip Sempé a couple of years ago in the intimacy of the Chamber Music Hall in the Brugge Concertgebouw.
Here he can do his - great - thing with his ensemble.
Recommended!

The practice of composing for two keyboard instruments, very common in the illustrious Bach family, naturally achieved its apotheosis with Johann Sebastian, whose three concertos for two harpsichords are performed here by Olivier Fortin and Emmanuel Frankenberg with the Ensemble Masques. These works, particularly the Concerto in C minor, are among the composer’s most admired. They suggest a conception of the concerto specific to Bach: rather than a dialogue between several individual entities, the piece presents a subtle intertwining of melodic lines and blurs the distinction between solo and tutti parts by making them respond to and quote each other, thus illustrating the principle of harmony dear to the composer. Finally, the recording on two harpsichords of the Prelude and Fugue BWV 552, originally composed for organ, is in keeping with the nineteenth-century tradition of transposing Bach’s works with the aim of giving their refined polyphony greater clarity. © Naxos