Luogo e data di registrazione		Amsterdam (Holland) - 22/27 Ottobre 1962
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Wolf Erichson
	Prima Edizione LP		Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9411-B (Stereo) - AWT 9411-C (Mono) | 1 LP - durata 45' 20" | (p) 1963 | ANA Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9411-B | 1 LP durata 45' 20" | (p) 1963 | ANA | Riedizione Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | 6.41037 AS | 1 LP - durata 45' 20" | (p) 1963 | ANA | Riedizione Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SCA 25022-T/1-5 | 5 LPs - durata 212' 39" | (c) 1972 | ANA | (Sämtliche Cembalokonzerte)
	Edizione CD		Teldec Classics | LC 3706 | 8.35778 XD | 3 CDs - durata 76' 42" - 72' 00" - 63' 57" | (c) 1989 | ADD | (Sämtliche Cembalokonzerte)
	Cover		-
	Note		-

The three harpsichord concertos on this record belong to Bach's Leipzig period. They breathe the lively, high-spirited music-making of those happy years between 1729 and 1736 in which he directed the Telemann Music Society, worked with the Collegium Musicum of the University and was at the same time able to make music in his highly gifted family circle. For at that time his sons Friedemann and Philipp Emanuel were still at home, and their brother Bernhard and Bach's pupil Krebs were also highly proficient on their instruments. Thus Bach was able to write full of happiness to his friend Frdmann in St. Petersburg during this period: “My eldest son is a student of law, the other two still attend the first and the second class and my eldest daughter is still unmarried. The children of my other marriage are still small. But they are one and all born musicians, and I can assure you that I can already form a vocal or instrumental concert with my family, especially since my present wife has a clear soprano voice and my eldest daughter also joins in not at all badly.“ The lively music-making in the Bach household is still made clear to us today by the instruments in Bach's possession that have come down to us. They included 5 harpsichords, 2 violins, 3 violas, 2 'cellos and one viola da gamba. Since Bach preferred the keyboard instruments to all others, always directing the performance from the harpsichord in concerts, and on the other hand since he was certainly the greatest talent in the Leipzig circle of music-makers, he came upon the idea of rearranging for these new occasions the violin concertos he had composed for the impressive musical activities of the court at Cöthen, where he had been employed before coming to Leipzig. He combined the continuo bass part with that of the solo violin, with virtuoso elaboration of the main section, thus creating a part for the harpsichord which was joined no longer by the orchestra as hitherto but by the stringed instruments of the other musicians taking part. The three concertos for harpsichord on this record are also the fruit of such rearrangement. The principle of composition in these works that flow along with such elementary musical impulse is based on a relation of tensions in the use of the themes. The theme appears in each case in the first few bars, in a brief and concentrated form, and then dominates the whole movement in such a manner that one can easily recognize it again and again in the play of the various parts. However, player and listener are not to remain in a mood of playful joy in music-making only, and so they are stimulated to contemplation in the second movement of each work, but only to be let free again in the third movement, in rhythms of dance-like character. Bach's manifold methods of employing themes is illustrated in an exemplary manner in the recordings on this disc: In the Harpsichord Concerto in D major, BWV 1054 rearrangement of Concerto for violin in E major BWV 1042, in the first movement the thematic material is interrupted in the middle section and then repeated identically after a short cadenza. In the second movement the theme is continually repeated as in a chaconne, while the harpsichord sustains its cantilena in the upper voice. The third movement is a rondo, in which the theme lies in the orchestral ritornello while the soloist appears with statements of his own between the repetitions of the ritornello. The Harpsichord Concerto in F major, BWV 1057, has been arranged from the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto. It retains the recorder parts note for note, letting them enter into a conversation with the harpsichord which is given a special attractiveness in the second movement on account of its echo effects. The third movement is a fugue that takes the theme through all the voices and imparts a striking virtuoso significance to the harpsichord in the intermediate episodes. The Harpsichord Concerto in G minor, BWV 1058 rearrangement of Concerto for Violin in A minor BWV 1041, is composed according to the same principles as BWV 1054. In the third movement the theme is used to form a dance-like conclusion in 9/8 time and gigue style. In contrast to the piano concertos of the classical period, Bach's harpsichord concertos are not a discussion, so to speak, between soloist and orchestra, but both partners compete in mutual acknowledgement and remain bound by the supreme law of harmony. Otto v. Irmer transl. D. G. Evans