Meetings with Bach

Naqueles dias, “houve muita música, tocada com elegância ímpar”. O relato refere-se aos dias de verão em que o compositor Johann Sebastian Bach recebeu, em Leipzig, a visita de Silvius Weiss, mestre do alaúde. Como foram as conversas deles? Não há como saber, mas do encontro restou ao menos uma obra, a Suíte BWV 1025, em que Weiss e Bach trabalharam juntos, adaptando a peça originalmente escrita para violino e cravo. Ouvi-la – em especial na interpretação do sueco Dohyo Sol, pesquisador e intérprete de exceção, criador do Höör Baroque Festival – é voltar no tempo e entrar em contato com o diálogo entre os dois compositores. A mesma sensação surge com o arranjo feito por Weiss da Suíte para violoncelo solo nº 2 BWV 1008 e na sonata escrita por Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, filho do compositor. No álbum, Dohyo Sol é acompanhado pela flautista Emelie Roos, cuja musicalidade e sensibilidade ajudam a retratar uma época central para a história da música.

What really happened during those long summer days in Leipzig, when master lutenist Silvius Weiss visited the home of Johan Sebastian Bach? Improvisational duels of excellence, or a more relaxed musical dialogue between friends? Contemporary witnesses recall there being ”rare and elegant music played during this time”. We also know that it was during this period that Bach added a congenial upper part to music originally composed by Weiss purely for solo lute, namely his sonata in A Major.

This augmentation added a new dimension and perspective onto Leopold Weiss’ already masterful composition, earning it a place in the catalogue of Bach’s works, as BWV 1025. On the cd ”Meetings with Bach”, we are also presented with Bach’s second cello suite in Dohyo Sol’s own transcription for lute. Of the encounters with Bach on this colourful recording, we are met with his son, Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach, whose dynamic and frequently eruptive music stands in stark contrast to the more fashionable gallant-style of the time.

Lutenist Dohyo Sol, and recorder player Emelie Roos, are both admired virtuosos on their respective instruments, and highly regarded on the Early Music scene- that of the music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Residing in the small village of Höör in Skåne, Emelie and Dohyo are the founding duo and artistic directors of the award winning and internationally acclaimed ensemble Höör Barock, along with its affiliated festival of the same name.