Adagio | Andrew Zohn - Guitarist CD

Solo Baroque Instrumentals by Bach - Scarlatti Handel - Albinoni

Program - Including MP3 Audio Excerpts

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

1 - Sonata K. 377 [4:03]
2 - Sonata K. 47 [5:06]
3 - Sonata K. 159 [2:52]

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suite No. 2 BWV 1008

4 - Prelude BWV 1008 [2:57]
5 - Allemande [2:46]
6 - Sarabande [3:34]
7 - Menuets 1 & 2 [2:25]
8 - Gigue [2:14]

Domenico Scarlatti

9 - Sonata K. 11 [3:33]
10 - Sonata K. 145 [3:30]
11 - Sonata K. 322 [3:17]

Georg Friederich Handel (1685-1759)
Suite for a Musical Clock

12 - Prelude HWV 598 [1:40]
13 - Menuet HWV 602 [1:11]
14 - Air HWV 604 [2:01]
15 - Gigue HWV 599 [1:13]

Domenico Scarlatti

16 - Sonata K. 208 [4:04]
17 - Sonata K 209 [5:05]
18 - Sonata K. 391 [2:54]

Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751)

19 - Adagio [6:54]

Among the various selections contained in this recording, the common aspect connecting them all is that none were originally composed for the guitar. The modern classical guitar was at least a half-century away from being the standard plucked instrument of the day when the composers on this recording were active, and with the exception of Johann Sebastian Bach, none of them composed for the 18th-century relative of the guitar, the lute. It was then, and still is today for that matter, common practice that music written for one instrument should be transcribed for another. This centuries-old tradition is continued with these selections.

The title track of this recording is derived from the Italian Tomaso Albinoni, who gained recognition in Venezia for his concerti for oboe. Ironically, his best-known work is not entirely his own. The revered “Adagio” for string orchestra, was actually conceived by Italian musicologist Remo Giazatto from a slow movement of an Albinoni trio sonata that survived the destruction of the State Library of Dresden during World War II where much of Albinoni’s work was housed.

Domenico Scarlatti, born in Napoli in 1685, was the son of well-known composer Allessandro Scarlatti. In 1720, Domenico moved to the Iberian Peninsula where he would remain for the rest of his life, first to Lisbon as Maestro of the Royal Chapel and then to Madrid as the tutor to Queen Maria Barbara. During this time, he composed over 600 sonatas for harpsichord from which the selections on this recording are taken.

The Suite BWV 1008 by Johann Sebastian Bach was originally composed for unaccompanied cello, the second of six suites which he conceived for the instrument. By his own hand, one can see the justification for transcribing these works for guitar, as Bach himself transcribed the fifth of these suites for lute, a close relative of the modern guitar. This transcription gives the modern guitarist a blueprint of how Bach dealt with aspects of transcription in his works, most specifically the addition of bass notes and ornamentation. This transcription was conceived with the intent of remaining as true to the original score as possible.

Though Johann Sebastian Bach is perhaps the most familiar name today of the baroque composers, Georg Friederich Handel was arguably the most popular and influential composer in his day. He traveled throughout Europe, and achieved major successes in Germany, Italy, and England, where he lived from 1723 until his death in 1759. The Suite for a Musical Clock appears in a collection of student pieces known as the Aylseford manuscripts. Though it is an essential part of the young pianist’s repertoire today, this short suite was originally composed for a music box or organ operated by clockwork mechanisms. These mechanical instruments were quite fashionable among the aristocracy of Handel’s time.