The Bach Partitas with Richard Goode
Pianist Discusses His Views on Six Remarkable Dances
Listen: Partita No. 1: Accessible and Crystalline
Listen: Partita No. 2: Technically Difficult
Listen: Partita No. 3: Grim but Tender
Listen: Partita No. 4: Radiant, Courtly, Grand
Listen: Partita No. 5: Virtuoso Bravura
Listen: Partita No. 6: Climactic Finale
Richard Goode playing Bach
Bach took established forms and brought them to a new level.
Partita No. 1Courante
Partita No. 2Allemande
Partita No. 3Scherzo
Partita No. 4Sarabande
Partita No. 5Gigue
Partita No. 6Sarabande
With the release of his latest three CDs, pianist Richard Goode has now recorded all six Bach Partitas for keyboard. Fred Child of Performance Today visited with Goode to talk about each one of these dances.
Written in the late 1720s, Bach's partitas were among his very first group of published works. A partita is a suite made up of popular Baroque instrumental dances with contrasting styles and rhythms. The German form of the partita typically contained four dances at its core: the allemande, the courante, the sarabande and the gigue.
Bach did not invent the partita, but his versions were more ambitious and elaborate than any that had come before. Bach composed about 30 partitas in all. Besides keyboard, he wrote partitas for solo violin, solo cello and orchestra.
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