Eldbjørg Hemsing

& Norwegian String Quartet

Colors of Bach

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is somehow irrepressible. It hasn’t just survived three centuries, it has leaped and bounded over them, inspiring musicians of countless genres along the way.

Eldbjørg Hemsing has long felt the allure of Bach’s ever-relevant music. For her new project Colors of Bach, she has taken some of the composer’s most famous pieces and reworked them in new arrangements. The result, she says, makes Bach’s music ‘shine…in new instrumental colors.’

Together with the Norwegian String Quartet and a group of renowned arrangers – Tim Allhoff, Jan-Peter Klöpfel and Jarkko Riihimäki – Hemsing has retouched Bach’s music in versions ranging from the flamboyant to the minimalist, many of them tinged with the sound of Norwegian folksong and even with a nod to Cyndi Lauper.

Using the composer's chorales, organ works (including the first of the Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, whose authorship is disputed), piano pieces and violin sonatas, Hemsing and her fellow musicians open up new perspectives on the work of a treasured composer, letting Bach’s genius shine even brighter.

This festive performance at Håkonshallen follows the release of the Colors of Bach album.

Image on top: Eldbjørg Hemsing. Photo: Gregor Hohenberg

Contributors

• Eldbjørg Hemsing violin

• Norwegian String Quartet

Works

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

• From Partita no. 3 in E major, BWV 1006
  1. Prelude

• From Cantata Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22
  1. Arioso and chorus Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe und sprach

• From Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846
  1. Prelude / Ave Maria (Charles Gounod, 1818–1893)

• Minuet in G major by Christian Petzold (1677–1733) formerly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach as BWV Anhang 114

• From Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041
  2. Andante

• Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor, BWV 1060R
  3. Allegro

• From Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147
  6. Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe

• From Orchestral Suite no. 3 in D major, BWV 1068
  2. Air (on the G string)

• Brandenburg Concerto no. 1 in F major, BWV 1046
  1. Allegro non troppo

• Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier, song, BWV 469

• Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
  Aria

• From 8 Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553–560
  1. Prelude in C major

• From Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248
  Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein, choral movement

• Invention no. 8 in F major, BWV 779

• Organ Sonata no. 4 in E minor, BWV 528
  2. Andante

• From St Matthew Passion, BWV 244
  Chorale: Befiehl du deine Wege
  Aria: Erbarme dich

• Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, chorale prelude, BWV 639

• From Concerto in D minor, BWV 974 (after Oboe Concerto in D minor, S.Z799, by Alessandro Marcello)
  3. Presto

• Violin Concerto no. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042
  1. Allegro
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro assai

• From Cantata Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54
  1. Aria (alto): Widerstehe doch der Sünde
  2. Recitativo (alto): Die Art verruchter Sünden
  3. Aria (alto): Wer Sünde tut, der ist vom Teufel

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