BACH - TRANSCRIPTIONS AND FRAGMENTS

As part of its organ concert cycle, the Auditorio de Tenerife offers a matinee provided by the organist Arno Hartmann.

Bach - Transcriptions and fragments

Organs have been a source of fascination for over 2000 years. In 2017, UNESCO inscribed organ craftsmanship and music on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the organ was named Instrument of the Year in 2021.

The concert Bach-Transcripciones y fragmentos (Bach: Transcriptions and fragments) is solely comprised of works of Johann Sebastian Bach. In addition to his original compositions, the programme includes organ transcriptions of several acclaimed composers and efforts to complete Bach's fragments of organ music.

Transcription, especially for organ, has always been a widely extended practice that seeks to adapt to one instrument pieces composed initially for another. Transcriptions flourished in the 18th century, reaching their summit in relation to Bach. Bach's transcriptions are of great artistic value, and the composer adapted some of his works to the organ. The performances of this programme include one of his most famous compositions: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 645). This work is based on his Schübler Chorales, a collection of six transcriptions of his own cantata cycles. It shall be preceded by the transcription of a group of Franz Liszt's cantatas as the evening's solemn opening performance. Bach's student and contemporary Johann Friedrich Agricola stands out for his noteworthy transcription of Ricercare for six voices, a piece of Das musikalische Opfer.

Bach's original works Präludium und Fuge in C (BWV 547) and the chorale Advent edition Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BMV 659) are among his most famous organ works from his Leipzig period. His Pastorella is greatly influenced by the Italian school and features the musical attributes of shepherds, i.e. bagpipes and chirimía. The first part of Pastorella immediately evokes a Christmas atmosphere, continuing a long tradition of "pastoral music" insofar as style: a work with four movements, Italian and French influences and a clear Yuletide spirit.

Peace, kindness and compassion are evoked by one of Johann Sebastian Bach's most successful works: Schafe können sicher weiden. This well-known success is actually only part of the secular and high-spirited cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd. The French organist and composer André Isoir created a delicate version of this work adapted to the organ.

Pedal-Exercitium and Fantasia and Fugue in C minor for five voices were not completed by Bach. Ton Koopman and Lorenzo Ghielmi, two of today's most renowned organists specialising in Bach have completed these pieces with great care to remain true to the spirit of the German composer.

The romantic version of Hirtenmusik, transcribed by Sigfrid Karg-Elert from the second cantata of Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium, takes us once again to an Advent-inspired atmosphere. This piece also highlights the qualities of Blancafort's splendid organ.

The programme will draw to a close with German-American composer Wilhelm Middelschulte's transcription of Chaconne for a violin solo. Ferruccio Busoni, to whom it is dedicated, inspired Middleschulte with his own adaptation of the piece to the piano in an attempt to incorporate counterpoint and polyphony to the piece, elements that are so difficult to capture on the violin. In this way, Chaconne's chamber music became a composition with symphonic qualities.

Arno Hartmann