J.S Bach | Arrangements | Complete Edition 

Raaf Hekkema

Challenge Classics / Turtle Records® / HQ|NORTHSTAR

Catalogue CC79006

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About the Album

 Cover picture: Marco Borggreve

DISC 1

In 2012 I recorded, purely for personal use, all the Bach solo arrangements I had made up until then, including the first four movements of the second partita. After listening to them I realized that my self-imposed decree to keep my hands off the chaconne from that partita, suddenly no longer seemed etched in stone.So I took a stab at producing a convincing version of it.

Following my Paganini formula, I first made an ‘analytical’ version: one that would do justice to the construction of the music, disregarding all thoughts of what might be fun to play. An important step, because otherwise you end up taking the instrumental route too soon. Bach’s music is implicitly polyphonic: a melody usually contains more than one voice, played in turn and together forming the melodic curve as a whole. The register and relationship between the voices largely determine the buildup of tension in the music.

This applies to nearly all of Bach’s music, but in the violin works he often uses multiple strings simultaneously to explicitly underscore the polyphony. So first I had to find a credible solution for the issue of polyphony. After that the other me would get his chance: the saxophone player who had free rein to determine what sounded good and, perhaps more importantly, where the advantages of the saxophone over the violin (arpeggios, for instance, are easier to play on the saxophone) could be put to good use. In this inner collaboration, the analyst constantly had the upper hand, for we were talking about a meticulously constructed work by the greatest musical architect ever.

The resulting version satisfied both my identities: the analyst and the instrumentalist. With a sense of liberation I set to work on the remaining movements of the partitas, which went with hardly a hitch.

DISC 2

Raaf Hekkema: Since I started teaching at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, I have become more conscious of my self-chosen mission: to create a place for the saxophone within the classical music tradition. One way to do this is to forge a stronger bond between the players and the classical tradition, in the knowledge that the saxophone repertoire too is indebted to the great composers of the past. The most influential of them all is, without a doubt, Johann Sebastian Bach.

The path to this recording was long, windy and fascinating. It started with the awareness that the cello suites provide exceptional playing material for saxophonists. But I long felt that for playing Bach on the saxophone, only the light-sounding soprano saxophone would do—which was, I believed, incompatible with the instrument for which the suites were written. During preparations for my previous CD recording of Bach’s partitas for violin (Challenge Classics, CC 72648), I discovered that the alto sax—fitted with an old-style mouthpiece—could reproduce the refined articulation of the violin. Vintage mouthpieces represent the sound ideal of days gone by. Then came the idea to play the suites on six different saxophones, each of which holds a unique place in the history of the instrument. After that, much time went into working out a usable assignment of transpositions and an appropriate choice of instruments, the resulting sound character being the deciding factor.

DISC 3

Once again, this album celebrates the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, whom many consider to be the greatest composer of all time. After Bach’s Partitas (Bach Partitas for Saxophone [CC 72648]) and his Suites (Bach Suites for Saxophone [CC 72769]), I am now presenting Bach Solo, a new solo album containing my own selection of works.

The pandemic in 2020-21 brought little to dispel the gloom among performing musicians. Concerts and tours were cancelled for an extensive period, meaning that musicians and other performing artists were confined to home with no work. Musical life was falteringly restored here and there during those years, only to have everything closed down again on virtually no notice. But these months also proved to be a time of reflection and artistic rebirth for many. A large number of children were born as a result of the pandemic, but the arts became a breeding ground for spiritual offspring, and so it proved for me; the genesis of the work you can hear on this album. Finally, there was plenty of time to spend many hours every day working on the project against a background of calm, which made Bach’s music all the more comforting!

The prime cut with which I open this album is the Sonata I have assembled from Bach’s three sonatas for solo violin. While working on Bach’s solo violin pieces around ten years ago, I rapidly decided to confine myself to the partitas. Although these do not belong together as such, often being published with a sonata in between them, I felt it was a sensible choice, given that they are generally of a less complex texture. The sonatas would have to wait until I felt brave enough and had gained some more experience. I felt I had finally reached that point during one of the Corona lockdowns. I started with a couple of movements that I felt would be good samples, avoiding the fugues, which are almost unplayable even on the violin but could only be performed on the saxophone - a single voice melodic instrument – with some artificial help. I did not feel that would be appropriate to this style. After a lot of experimentation in different transpositions, it turned out to be possible to mould six of the total of twelve sonata movements into one cohesive whole, with the two central movements being in parallel major keys. Even though a sonata in six movements may go against musical tradition, I feel it is a very satisfactory solution from a musical perspective.

Album tracks

DISC 1

1. Partita II, BWV 1004: I. Allemanda

2. Partita II, BWV 1004: II. Corrente
   

3. Partita II, BWV 1004: III. Sarabanda
   

4. Partita II, BWV 1004: IV. Giga
   

5. Partita II, BWV 1004: V. Ciaccona
   

6. Partita III, BWV 1006: I. Preludio
   

7. Partita III, BWV 1006: II. Loure
   

8. Partita III, BWV 1006: III. Gavotte en Rondeau
   

9. Partita III, BWV 1006: IV. Menuet I - Menuet II
   

10. Partita III, BWV 1006: V. Bourrée
    

11. Partita III, BWV 1006: VI. Gigue
    

12. Partita I, BWV 1002: I. Allemanda
    

13. Partita I, BWV 1002: II. Double
    

14. Partita I, BWV 1002: III. Corrente
    

15. Partita I, BWV 1002: IV. Double-Presto

DISC 2

1. I Prelude
   

2. I Allemande
   

3. I Courante
   

4. I Sarabande
   

5. I Menuet I & II
   

6. I Gigue
   

7. II Prelude
   

8. II Allemande
   

9. II Courante
   

10. II Sarabande
    

11. II Menuet I & II
    

12. II Gigue
    

13. III Prelude
    

14. III Allemande
    

15. III Courante
    

16. III Sarabande
    

17. III Bouree I & II
    

18. III Gigue
    

19. IV Prelude
    

20. IV Allemande
    

21. IV Courante
    

22. IV Sarabande
    

23. IV Bourree I&II
    

24. IV Gigue
    

25. V Prelude
    

26. V Allemande
    

27. V Courante
    

28. V Sarabande
    

29. V Gavotte I&II
    

30. V Gigue
    

31. VI Prelude
    

32. VI Allemande
    

33. VI Courante
    

34. VI Sarabande
    

35. VI Gavotte I&II
    

36. VI Gigue