{"product_id":"alberto-la-rocca-weiss-j-s-bach-suite-sw47-for-guitar-violin-cd","title":"Alberto La Rocca - Weiss \u0026 J.S. Bach: Suite SW47 for Guitar \u0026 Violin (CD)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDetails: \u003c\/strong\u003eThis recording features a work with a\r\nstrange coincidence in it's compositional\r\nprocess and an astonishing dual authorship.\r\nRemarkably, Silvius Leopold Weiss's Lute\r\nSuite SW47 (which he named Suonata) also\r\ncomes with a violin part that can be played\r\nover the top of it, composed by none other\r\nthan Johann Sebastian Bach. A recent\r\ncomparison of sources revealed that the\r\nharpsichord part in Bach's Suite for Violin \u0026amp;\r\nHarpsichord BWV1025, long considered to\r\nbe of doubtful attribution, perfectly\r\nmatches Weiss's suite. The violin part,\r\nmeanwhile, was indeed composed entirely\r\nby Bach and is an additional melody\r\nindependent of Weiss's musical material. It\r\nfeels almost like a 'free improvisation'\r\nabove the suite and recalls a similar process\r\ncarried out by Charles Gounod in 1859: his\r\nAve Maria fits over the first Prelude from\r\nBach's Well-Tempered Clavier BWV846. The\r\nsole exception is the Fantasia movement in\r\nBach's piece, which is not derived from\r\nWeiss's suite, meaning both the violin and\r\nharpsichord parts in it are unique to Bach.\r\nThis recording presents Weiss's suite on it's\r\nown and with the addition of Bach's violin\r\npart, both versions arranged by guitarist\r\nAlberto La Rocca for his instrument in place\r\nof the lute or harpsichord. (The all-Bach\r\nFantasia is not included in the version\r\nwithout violin.) Weiss's Suite (Suonata) is a\r\nhigh-quality work composed for a 13-course\r\nBaroque lute. It is rarely, if ever, performed\r\nby either lute or guitar players, yet it\r\ncontains all the best features of the great\r\nGerman lutenist's oeuvre: a refined and\r\nelegant compositional style and a varied\r\nrange of expression. Bach's 'added melody',\r\ncomposed with his usual superhuman\r\nability, shines a new light on the original\r\nsuite, as if dressing it up in extraordinarily\r\nelegant attire. The violin part comments on\r\nthe original lute texture without suffocating\r\nit, almost like a free improvisation above it.\r\nIt plays with the various elements of Weiss's\r\nmusic, extrapolating ideas for themes,\r\nimitating them or simply wandering freely.\r\nBach's part is also highly imaginative and\r\nvaried in it's expression, frequently adding\r\ncomplex rhythmic dovetailing and\r\nsignificant virtuosity while always staying\r\ntrue to the emotions of Weiss's movements.\r\nBach and Weiss were friends and met on\r\nseveral occasions. Johann Friedrich\r\nReichardt even describes them challenging\r\neach other to an improvisation competition:\r\n'Anyone who understands the challenge of\r\nplaying harmonic modulations and decent\r\ncounterpoint on the lute will be surprised\r\nand amazed to hear an eyewitness say that\r\nWeiss, the great lutenist, competed with J.S.\r\nBach, the great harpsichordist and organist,\r\nin playing fantasies and fugues.' While the\r\norigins of his 'transcription with\r\naccompaniment' of Weiss's Suite SW47 are\r\nstill a mystery, the fact remains that we can\r\nnow enjoy a unique and unusual\r\nmasterpiece, which these two brilliant\r\ncomposers had a hand in writing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alliance Entertainment","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50446038565138,"sku":"5028421971391","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/4344104.jpg?v=1729705133","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/alberto-la-rocca-weiss-j-s-bach-suite-sw47-for-guitar-violin-cd","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}