Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Bach Sonata in B Minor - BWV 1030

This piece opens with the the flute playing the main motive, which continues to be the biggest part of the work throught this movement. There are a couple measures of rests for the flute where the harpsichord echoes what the flute has just played. The flute then returns with more of the motive while the harpsichord returns to its accompanying position. This is only one of the arrangements that this melody is played in. Throughout the movement as the motive returns, it may keep part of a phrase exactly how it was first played at the beginning, but most of it is varied, usually through rhythm. The motive is still recognizable though, it usually just sounds like it's been embellished a lot. About halfway through the piece, there's a section where the flute rests in the middle of playing the motive while the harpsichord takes over for a short while and then the flute returns with an echo to what the harpsichord has just played. About thirty seconds or so before the end of the piece, there is a brief part with many accidentals that sounds like mostly new material and I sort of expected it to develop that some more, but it ended almost as soon as it had begun, returned to the motive, and rallentandoed to the end.

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