Bach Inventions

On his new album 'Inventions/Reinventions,' pianist-composer DanTepfer performs each of Bach's beloved 15 Two Part Inventions interleaved in chromatic sequence by 9 of his own free improvisations in the "missing" keys to create a new full, and fully transporting 24-key experience, a 55-minute mix of the timeless and the contemporary. 300 years ago in 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach initially composed his Two Part Inventions as keyboard exercises for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

The Inventions and Sinfonias are fairly low profile works of Bach's and, unfortunately, not often performed. However, we should know that Bach did not reserve all his best composition into his larger scale pieces but also ensured that his shortest, least grandiose, pieces were put together with the same dedication and quality. And so it is with the Inventions and Sinfonias. Invention is the term Bach used here to refer to a short Prelude-like piece with two independent voices - one from the left hand one from the right which are generally working fairly independently.

In the Inventions, Jansen is an equal partner with violist Maxim Rysanov and cellist Torleif Thedéen in performances of wit, feeling, and subtle grace. In the Partita and especially its excruciatingly ecstatic Chaconne, Jansen delivers consummate musicality and surpassing emotional honesty. Decca's sound is close and evocative.

The Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772–801, also known as the Two- and Three-Part Inventions, are a collection of thirty short keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach: 15 inventions, which are two-part contrapuntal pieces, and 15 sinfonias, which are three-part contrapuntal pieces. They were originally written as musical exercises for his students. The four duetti BWV 802–805 were included at a fairly late stage in 1739 in the engraved plates for Clavier-Übung III. The use of the term duetto itself is closest to that given in the first volume of the Critica Musica (1722) of Johann Mattheson: a piece for two voices involving more than just "imitation at the unison and the octave". The purpose of the Bach's Duets has remained a source of debate. We thought it interesting – if a little controversial – to include different takes of the Inventions and Sinfonias that pianist Maurizio Zaccaria played during the same recording session. Each take is unique, with its own shades and nuances.