2 & 3 Part Inventions [Import]

This is a superb recording of the Two-Part and Sinfonias (Three-Part Inventions) of Johann Sebastian Bach. Kenneth Gilbert is a wonderful interpreter of Bach's keyboard music and in this recording plays an instrument made in 1671 by Jan Couchet that was subsequently enlarged in 1778. The Two-Part Inventions and Sinfonias consist of 15 parts; they were written as technical exercises and as composition demonstration pieces originally for his son Wilhelm Friedemann. The various pieces were probably written separately and were gathered together by Bach in major/minor key sequence and published in 1723.

The recording is clear and well balanced. Kenneth Gilbert plays beautifully; the music is lively without being ostentatious. I highly recommend this disc to anyone interested in Bach's keyboard works.

Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias are part of the daily training of every keyboard player. Valuable technical instruction and superb originality are certainly one o its most distinguished attributes. Written for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedmann (born 1710), the thematic diversity and the wide range of musical ideas is endless. I find them extraordinarily stimulating and propitiatory at any moment, are not only imaginative but peerless in the Bach's repertoire. I would even dare to recommend to anyone who really wants to initiate with the unioverse of the master of masters.

This version of Kenneth Gilbert is by far, one of the most representative, prominent and colossal achievements of this well known virtuosi and emblematic musician. He really is one of the few artists of the instrument.

As a matter of fact this CD was one of my ten first ones at the moment I began my golden collection. A true treasure.

Bach's complete Two-part and Three-part "Inventions" (this album: Kenneth Gilbert on the large harpsichord, ARCHIV Records) are supremely awesome because they started out, like much of his music, as purely instructional.

Not just that: it represents the invention of modern music as we know it. Bach was as determined and skilled a teacher as he was a composer and musician. It would not surprise me if the Inventions are linked to the BRANDENBURG CONCERTII the way DIVERSE KANONS are related to THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS.

The "Inventions" were designed to train for finger independence, but it was so much more important to teach the performer to cause these pieces to flow, as if the human voice were singing them. Bach's original notes and his general advert as a teacher was that he could teach anyone to play anything in a style of a kind of 'mimicry' of the human voice.

Kenneth Gilbert, displaying his beautiful, logical prowess first by doing all the Two-part Inventions followed by all the Three-part Inventions, is a WIZARD on the harpsichord. I've literally had dreams I can play it this well, and I agree with another worthy colleague reviewer who says Gilbert is playing a very large harpsichord - which is as it should be. It matches Bach's genius and Gilbert's performances.

A beautiful example - one I used when criticizing Gould's interpretations - is the Two-part Invention in G major (which I believe is 10th in Bach's list). This is a lively, fulsome yet somehow percussive Invention meant, in my opinion, to be played "super-allegro"! It is my absolute favorite of them all, and it is my sincerest test of the performer. I don't mind telling anyone that this Invention, when played correctly, brings real tears of joy to my eyes.

Though Gilbert is a bit slow for my taste in this performance, it is careful, gorgeous, clean, and full-bodied like I have never heard before. The Two-part in G-major is a wicked test of a keyboardist's "oomph", strength and talent. I wish I had a dime for every time I've heard musicians trip up while trying to play it. As for me, I have only dared play parts of it, very slowly and I assure you, very poorly.

To be fair, Gilbert does, in fact, trip up on his tempo in one of the Two-part Inventions. As a loyal purist, I defy the listener to pick it out - I will not criticize a performer of this caliber. Gilbert's mastery of the full expressive ability of the harpsichord is unmatched; he makes it sing the way Bach hoped the student of his Inventions would learn to do. Gould on the piano is simply too tired, lazy or incapable of rendering a powerhouse harpsichord dream like this.

It almost makes me wish I could hear Gilbert do these on the piano, just to hear the way he might interpret/attack them there, as opposed to the rather restricted and brute-strength fingering technique the harpsichord demands. Often I feel like hitting the roof when my wife flees the room upon hearing this album. She says the harpsichord is "creepy" and I cannot fathom her sometimes. Makes me recall Mama, who could not appreciate Bach because she thought his church organ pieces sounded like a "horror movie". I do not know what Mama really thought of harpsichords, but I believe she liked them.

GET THIS COMPLETE VERSION of Bach's Two-part and Three-part Inventions and hear a flawless harpsichord singing like the birds, as it ought to be, and skip buying anything else!

Kenneth Gilbert is simply becoming far too difficult to find anymore, and ARCHIV (which this album is), TelArc along with other great labels are gone, gone, gone.