
Bach Partitas | Małgorzata Sarbak
The Partitas, a serious challenge for any harpsichordist, are a musical treatise summarizing Bach’s accomplishments as a composer of suites. These extraordinarily demanding, varied, and — most importantly — novel pieces were published by the composer himself, who labeled them as Opus 1, his first published work. Their publication in 1731 as part one of the series Clavier-Übung I caused a sensation in the music world.
As Małgorzata Sarbak explains:
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partitas are an elaborate collection of affects wrapped in dances, lamentations, and displays: airy minuets, passionate sarabandes, lively gigues, and contrary courantes, all neatly arranged with no random elements or miscalculations. Bach, after all, was also a scientist. All of this was revolutionary and marked a new quality in music, because Bach was also an inventor.
The record was published by Warsaw’s Lado ABC label with support from the NInA.