Bach: Bourreé I&II, BWV 1009

[Toomas Rannu]

Usually the First Bourreé is played in clear rhythm and the Second Bourreè is played smoother and in a little slower tempo, Meno Vivo, for example. I set the tempos quite the contrary. Why not?
Here it is:
https://youtu.be/1fb93B49u7E

[Mandolin Deep Cuts]

Loved the video! I have played the crap out of the first one previously, but has never heard the second. Honestly I blaze through the first one at light speed because I think it’s cool. Is there an authoritative place to learn about the history and typical manner of playing classical tunes such as this? I have a few books with random classical tunes arranged for mandolin and would love to get the history

[Anglocelt]

Very nicely played and well-paced. I like the slower tempo, which would be helpful to learners. Did you use a published mandolin arrangement?

[Toomas Rannu]

Thank you very much! I think it’s good and educating to know about the composer and his composition and about the era he was living and how he created he's masterpieces and I guess there are lots of books in English and German about Bach, he's compositions and the baroque era. I’m a slow reader in English so mostly I used translations into Estonian. Maybe one name of the book I like the most and it is really good:
It is: Nikolaus Harnoncourt „Musik als Klangrede (1982 by Residenz Verlag Salzburd and Vienna). You will find the English version if you search it by the name of the author.

But in the end, I think playing music has to be fun or as you say, you have to feel that it‘s cool. It’s not possible, or it is very hard to practice a complicated piece of music for a long time when you feel that it is boring. Or what is the point of that? And after all, lot’s of music for solo instruments in this time of baroque was composed not for performing but playing by oneself.
I used a transcription for violin:

6 Cello Suites - Violin Solo Trascritte dall'originale per violoncello E. Polo (Ricordi, 1984)

and I bought it from a shop in Denmark Street, London in 2018.

Maybe the Second Bourreè sounds better in slower speed but I feel that on mandolin that episode of music sounds better in a little higher speed. But I like to find new ways of thinking and create different versions and I like to hear the other players creating their personal ones. And who knows maybe one day I find the way to play this Bourreè in the opposite way.

Toomas

[btrott]

There are lots of books about early music performance practice, including some 18th century mandolin instruction books (all later than Bach in this case), including this one and this one, available through IMSLP. One of the classic books on Baroque performance practice is Johann Joachim Quantz's On Playing the Flute, which is available in modern editions (here is an 18th c. edition in German). Quantz was music master to Frederick the Great, and his book goes far beyond being a flute instruction manual in discussing phrasing, ornamentation, improvisation of cadenzas, etc. If you are interested in 18th performance practice this might be a good place to start.

Best,

Barry