Bach: Harpsichord Sonatas – Salvatore Carchiolo

When discussing “Bach” and “transcriptions”, one is frequently reminded of the great traditions of the nineteenth and early-twentieth century, at the risk of overlooking a tradition which was abundantly practised already in the eighteenth century. Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, indeed, was among the first who made use of his father’s works, elaborating and arranging them, frequently very freely, adding and suppressing melodic lines and harmonies. In a similar fashion, Salvatore Carchiolo enters in service to Bach’s music, and accomplishes a unique operation in the field of contemporary Baroque performance. In fact, he brings to the harpsichord some transcriptions derived from an instrument such as the violin, by using both period original transcriptions (as happens with BWV 1003, whose arrangement is attributed to J. S. Bach himself) and his own arrangements, thus completing the three Sonatas of the cycle of solo violin Sonatas and Partitas. This complex task requires the interpreter to make both stylistic and, occasionally, compositional decisions, which are solved here with the perceptiveness and intelligence deriving from years of study and performative experience. This is proved by the direct comparison with two transcriptions (in this case by Bach himself) after two Sonatas by Johann Adam Reincken, found at the end of the album, and which clearly demonstrate not just the value of this work, but, most particularly, the interpreter’s fidelity in being entirely in service to the music he performs.