Bach, JS :: Sechs Sonaten [Six Sonatas] BWV 525-530 - Heft / Volume 1

The purposeful collection of the Organ Sonatas originates in the Leipzig years around 1727 and 1729. Johann Nikolaus Forkel maintains that the collection was used for pedagogic reasons: 'Bach composed them for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, who had to practice them in order to become a great organist. No praise can compete with their beauty.' The fascinating impression the sonatas make can be proved by the fact that every generation of musicians since has adapted and rearranged them. Mozart arranged three movements for violin, viola and violoncello; Edition Peters and Breitkopf & Hartel presented complete editions for violin and piano in 1863 and 1874; Bartok and Kabalevsky versions for piano in the 1930s; and numerous versions throughout the years for prominent publishers and groups ranging from more piano transcriptions, to two melody instruments and basso continuo, to BWV 525 arranged for 20 brass instruments in 1923.

Barenreiter now presents the complete organs sonatas, in three volumes, transcribed for flute and piano by the leading Bach scholars Waltraut and Gerhard Kirchner in as authentic as style as possible.

Contents

• Sonata No. 1 in G major after BWV 525
• Soanta No. 2 in E minor after BWV 526