5 Feb 2019

BACH: Chaconne from Partita in D minor BWV 1004

From Music Alive, 2:00 pm on 5 February 2019
JS Bach

JS Bach Photo: Public Domain

JS Bach's towering 'Chaconne' is the fifth and final movement of his 'Partita No 2 in D minor'.

Bach wrote his unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas while employed at the Court in Köthen, where the Prince  appreciated his talents. Bach enjoyed a period of greater creative freedom to compose secular music there.

The chaconne dance form has a basic theme stated at the beginning which is then restated in variations - in this case 64 of them.

Of Bach's 'Chaconne', Johannes Brahms is said to have commented in awe: "... on a single staff, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feeling ..."

Recorded in Nelson Cathedral by RNZ

Sound engineer: Graham Kennedy

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