For a modern recorder player, historical performance practice is certainly both principle as well as a native musical language. But if one wants to perform the works of J.S. Bach, the repertoire is very slim. Stefan Temmingh’s love of Bach pushed him to take on this challenge and concern himself with performance practice in the baroque. In an extensive booklet text, he argues that the harpsichord literature in the baroque era was transcribed for other instruments quasi as a “lingua franca”. Reorchestrated versions of Bach’s Concerto for Four Harpsichords (itself an arrangement of Vivaldi compositions), for example, can be found from the 18th century, usually for one or two melody instruments with continuo.
Above all, this practice predominated in France, e.g. in connection with works by Couperin and Dieupart, which were certainly some of the sources of inspiration for Bach’s French Suites. Stefan Temmingh continues the long tradition of arranging such pieces for a melody instrument. Domen Marincic on the viola da gamba and Axel Wolf on the lute provide the ideal support for the basic sound of the recorder. Although this combination of instruments emphasizes another aspect of the composition, the fundamental idea behind the music does not change.
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Bach Johann Sebastian
