Concertos for Solo Keyboard BWV 972-987 - Discography

Aryeh Oron wrote (February 28, 2007):
Bach arranged 7 concertos by other composers for organ (BWV 592-598), 17 for solo harpsichord (BWV 972-987 & BWV 592a), and one for 4 harpsichords, strings and continuo.

Following previous discographies of Bach's keyboard works, I have added now a comprehensive discography of the concertos for solo keyboard BWV 972-987. AFAIK, this is the first ever web-discography of this group of works.

The short introduction to these works is extracted from Michael Talbot's article in OCC (OUP, 1999):

>> The original stimulus behind Bach's keyboard arrangements of concertos may have been the similar organ transcriptions that his friend and distant cousin J.G. Walther made for his gifted pupil Prince Johann Ernst of Sax-Weimar. But whereas nearly all of Walther's arrangements concern the first (pre-Vivaldian) generation of concerto composers, those by Bach are works by Vivaldi and his contemporaries. They most likely date from 1713-1714, following the return of Johann Ernst from his travel in the Netherlands. In fact, the prince himself figures strongly as a composer in Bach transcriptions. <> Of the 17 for harpsichord, six are by Vivaldi and four by Johann Ernst; Alessandro Marcello, his brother Benedetto, Telemann, and possibly Torelli each contributed one, leaving untraced the originals of three.
In making his transcriptions, Bach freely changed the key to suit the instrument's compass, transposed individual lines to facilitate performance, converted the ornamentation into forms more suitable for the keyboard, added harmonic and contrapuntal enrichment, and 'edited' a few details. All in all, however, his adaptations are respectful of the originals in basic matters. While one hesitates to claim, as German scholars once did, that the arrangements offer improvements on the originals, they all contain moments of inspiration, which show the presence of an exceptional creative mind. <<.

You can find the list and details of complete recordings of the solo keyboard concerto arrangements split into several pages, a page for a decade, starting at the page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV972-987.htm
The list includes both recordings of all 16 Concertos (not too many, actually) and recordings of individual Concertos. Except of a few cases, recordings of individual movements are not included. All in all, 73 albums with the Concertos are listed. As in previous discographies in the BCW, each recording is listed only once. All the issues of each recording are presented together.

If you are aware of a recording of these works not listed in the discography, or if you find an error or missing information, please inform me, either through the BRML or to my personal e-mail address.

Concertos for Solo Keyboard BWV 972-987: Details
Recordings: Until 1950 | 1951-1960 | 1961-1970 | 1971-1980 | 1981-1990 | 1991-2000 | From 2001
Reviews: Kevin Bowyer’s Bach Organ Series, Volume 13
Discussions: General Discussions

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