PBO to Revisit Two-Harpsichord Recital

Harpsichordists Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya and Richard Egarr behind the keyboard of a grand piano (courtesy of PBO)

About two months ago the Live from Amsterdam program for the 2020/Virtual series hosted by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (PBO) presented a two-harpsichord recital. Music Director Richard Egarr was joined by virtuoso keyboardist Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya to present a program entitled Bach in the Coffee House – Double Espresso! Johann Sebastian Bach himself provided the “punch line” for the concert, which concluded with his BWV 1061 concerto in C major. (Those expecting orchestral accompaniment should bear in mind that Bach originally wrote the piece for two harpsichords unaccompanied. While there are orchestral parts for this concerto, they may not have been provided by Bach himself.) In all probability, Bach composed this when he was director of the Collegium Musicum, which gave weekly concerts at Gottfried Zimmermann’s coffee house in Leipzig.

The entire program was planned as a “journey” from the Iberian peninsula to Leipzig. It will begin with the third (in the key of G major) of the six concertos that Antonio Soler composed for two organs, probably for pedagogical purposes.  Egarr and Nepomnyashchaya will then cross the Pyrenees and head for Paris, where they will offer an assortment of some of the works that François Couperin wrote for two keyboards. Couperin’s selections will be followed by a passacaglia by Johann Caspar Kerll, whose music was published in Munich towards the end of the seventeenth century. (Kerll would subsequently move to Vienna.) Bach was an avid student of Kerll’s work, making the transition to BWV 1061 a smooth one.

The video of this performance was recorded in the Lutherse Kerk in Haarlem. There will be a second opportunity to view it this coming Friday, November 13, at 11 a.m. The video will be uploaded to YouTube and will be included among the selections on the PBO YouTube channel.