“The Keyboard Works of Johann Sebastian Bach, vol. 9”, Benjamin Alard

The company of Benjamin Alard, about which The duty recently spoke with the artist, is as much a musical adventure as it is an instrumental epic. In this volume 9 we find one of the “stars” of the previous volumes: the rich three-manual harpsichord by Hieronymus Albrecht Hass (Hamburg, 1740), on which Benjamin Alard had recorded the 1^er Book of Well-tempered keyboard (vol. 6). Its strong presence catches us cold in the Chromatic fantasy and fugue in D, BWV 903but the variety of its colors captivates us in the 5^e Brandenburg Concerto (2^e movement). If we talk so much about instruments in the case of the complete Bach-Alard it is because the choice of the sound universe is a large part of the interpretive path. Listen to the Sarabande (then the Gavottes) of the 3^e English suite and you will be at the heart of the project. THE English suites (numbers 3, 5 And 6) constitute the bulk of the works in this volume 9, increased by Concerto BWV 984 and fortunately very brief Secular cantata BWV 203 for baritone.

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