Can you dance to this?

[George K]

I'm working on the Bach Partita #1 BWV 825. Prelude is 95% there, now working on getting it "musical."

The allemande is very "Bach-ish." Lots of sequences, broken arpeggios, etc.

Allemande:

processional couple dance with stately, flowing steps, fashionable in 16th-century aristocratic circles; also an 18th-century figure dance.

STATELY...

When I (sort of) learned the Handel Keyboard Suite in E major, one of my favorite movements was the second, the Allemande.

Here's Alicia DeLarrocha playing it (go to 1:40).

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This is the tempo I used when some of you heard me butcher it a few years ago.

So, on to Bach.

Schiff's tempo (at 1:40)

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I'm aiming for something like that, but it'll probably end up being a bit slower.

Sokolov is a bit brisker (I love his articulation) - 1:40:

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Gould starts to get crazy (1:50):

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Pires completes the craziness:

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At the other extreme...

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So help me here...seems to me that the only "danceable" one is the last.

[kluurs]

You might want to also give a listen to Sergio Fiorentino.

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[George K]

Thanks, @kluurs ! That's a reasonable tempo.

Igor Levit is also approachable:

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[mark]

Love this piece. Look forward to hearing you play it live someday soon.

I have started to revisit the English Suites #6 Gavotte I & II

[Horace]

This post is deleted!

[George K]

@mark listen to the way Perahia plays the Allemande from that English Suite. It's ... stately.

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So I really don't get the frenzied interpretations I linked earlier.

[George K]

Kind of unrelated - last night I came across a masterclass taught by Jonathan Biss. It was on the Schubert Impromptu in C-minor.

He said, "When Schubert writes in a minor key, it's sad. When Schuber writes in a major key, it's tragic."

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