Bach: Keyboard Partita No.2 in C Minor, BWV 826 (Fray, Anderszewski)

Bach’s Second Partita is unique in several ways. In terms of tone and expression it is one of the most dramatic of the partitas, and, unusually, opens with an elaborate 3-part Sinfonia and closes with a Capriccio in place of the customary Gigue. It is also the only partita of Bach’s that is in 6, rather than 7, movements. The Allemande of this suite is tightly motivically organized – just count how often the upper voice motif you hear in mm. 1-2 recurs – while in Courante the same four-semiquaver-note motif occurs in every bar, either as a turn or tirata. The courante also features some unusual phrase structures (6 6 is followed by 8 3 5) and a hemiola shift in each section’s concluding bar (to 6/4). The Sarabande, like most of Bach’s, is melancholy and profound in a way that takes it quite a distance from its origins as a French court dance, though it retains its fixed 4 4 phrase structure. The Rondeaux has the usual ABACAD-type structure, but Bach (uncommonly for the time) varies the refrain the last two times it recurs (note also the unusual voicing of the refrain’s sequential tail, which is hard to “hear” correctly, with the middle note of each bar belonging to the upper voice). The closing Capriccio is fairly well-known, and adheres pretty well to the archetypal texture, which basically means lots of imitative counterpoint (with the subject inverted in the 2nd half). It also has lots of gigue-like characteristics, which is why it end this soite: its 2 parts are exactly equal in length and have the gigue’s tonic-dominant polarity. Fray has a clean, lyrical approach to this partita, with careful prioritization of lines and a Capriccio taken at an Argerich-like tempo. Anderszewski’s (live) performance must be one of the all-time great Bach renditions: beguiling and surprising and rigorous all at once. He’s got a gift for swapping line emphases and articulation that’s unmatched by any current performer. Some things to look out for: the pizzicato bass in the Sinfonia’s andante, the multi-tiered structure of the Courante which teeters but never topples, the hyper-pointillist approach to the Rondeaux, the punched-out bass notes in the Capriccio at 36:14, and the incredible dynamic control (the practically non-existent top voice) used in the repeat at 36:58 to let the middle voice sing clearly. Fray: 00:00 – 1. Sinfonia (1:00 – Andante; 3:00 – Allegro) 04:31 – 2. Allemande 09:15 – 3. Courante 11:27 – 4. Sarabande 15:10 – 5. Rondeaux 16:30 – 6. Capriccio Anderszewski: 19:32 – 1. Sinfonia (20:17 – Andante; 22:07 – Allegro) 23:39 – 2. Allemande 27:34 – 3. Courante 29:44 – 4. Sarabande 34:21 – 5. Rondeaux 36:03 – 6. Capriccio