Played by JAMES CHING
Aria and Gigue from Partita in D Major
Prelude and Fugue in A Minor
THE Aria is a simple-minded, pleasant little piece. The Gigue is the usual two sections : the first opens in a fugal style, and the second not with the same subject, as is usual with Bach, but with another one of a more flowing type, against which, however, the first tune soon enters as a foil.
THE Prelude consists of a mere ten bars of wide chords, intended to be arpeggioed as the performer's taste may suggest. Certain others of Bach's Preludes are mere successions of harmonies (the first Prelude of the ' 48 ' is a beautiful example), but usually he has himself written out in full the passages which he wishes to be developed from them.
This practice did not seem strange in a day when composers invariably left their aceompaniments in a skeleton ' state, printing only the bass, with figures above it to indicate what notes were to be added to make up the harmony.
The Fugue is the longest Bach ever wrote for
Clavichord or Harpsichord. The subject is itself a long one, being a rapid flowing stream of over sixty running notes. The current of tone continues unchecked from beginning to end of the piece. Near the end is an exciting Cadenza, derived from the subject ; it begins low down and gradually overflows the keyboard.