EDWIN FISCHER PLAYS KEYBOARD CONCERTOS BY J S BACH
by Edwin Fischer

Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052

Originally a Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 is a concerto for harpsichord with two violin parts, viola, and basso continuo. The earliest surviving manuscript of the concerto can be dated to 1734; it was made by Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel and contained only the orchestral parts, with the harpsichord part added later. This version is known as BWV 1052a. The definitive version, BWV 1052, was recorded by Bach himself in the autograph manuscript of all eight harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052–1058, made around 1738. In the second half of the 1720s, Bach had already written versions of all three movements of the concerto for two of his cantatas, with obbligato organ as the solo instrument: the first two movements for the sinfonia and first choral movement of Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen, BWV 146 (1726); and the last movement for the opening sinfonia of Ich habe meine Zuversicht, BWV 188 (1728). In these cantata versions, the orchestra was expanded by the addition of oboes.

Keyboard Concerto in A major, BWV 1055

Originally a Harpsichord Concerto in A major, BWV 1055 is a concerto for harpsichord and string orchestra. It is the fourth keyboard concerto in Bach's autograph score of c. 1738. Unlike Bach's other harpsichord concertos, BWV 1055 has no known precursors, either as an instrumental concerto or as a movement with obbligato organ in a cantata. It has generally been accepted that it is a reworking of a lost instrumental concerto, since Donald Francis Tovey first made the suggestion in 1935, when he proposed the oboe d'amore as the melody instrument.

Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056

The outer movements probably come from a violin concerto that was in G minor. The middle movement probably comes from an oboe concerto in F major; it is also the sinfonia to the cantata Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, BWV 156, and closely resembles the opening Andante of a Flute Concerto in G major (TWV 51:G2) by Georg Philipp Telemann, in that the soloists play essentially identical notes for the first two-and-a-half measures. Although the chronology cannot be known for certain, Steven Zohn has presented evidence that the Telemann concerto came first, and that Bach intended his movement as an elaboration of his friend Telemann's original.

Edwin Fischer

Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart in the twentieth century. Fischer was born in Basel and studied music first there with Hans Huber, and later in Berlin at the Stern Conservatory under Martin Krause. He first came to prominence as a pianist following World War I. In 1926, he became conductor of the Lübeck Musikverein and later conducted in Munich. In 1932, he formed his own chamber orchestra and was one of the first to be interested in presenting music of the Baroque and Classical periods in a historically accurate way. Although his performances were not historically accurate by present-day standards, they were for his time; for example, he did conduct Bach and Mozart concertos from the keyboard, an unusual practice at that time.

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