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NOTEBOOK for ANNA
for keyboard (after J. S. Bach) | 25'ca. (2006) download | purchase* there are two audio versions, one on harpsichord and the other on piano.
PROGRAM NOTE
The idea of revisiting, recreating, and reinterpretingThe Notebook for Anna (Clavier-büchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach) is a set of pieces attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. Three notebooks have come down to us from the Bach household: the Clavierbüchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1720) and the two “Musical Notebooks” for Anna Magdalena Bach (1722/1725). Each may be regarded as constituting a kind of family musical album. Contributions made by various composers are frequently interspersed with Bach’s own compositions. Minuets, rondeaux, polonaises, chorales, sonatas, preludes, musettes, marches, gavottes, are included in this famous book and has been used for centuries by teachers and students alike providing a glimpse into the domestic music of the 18th century and the musical taste of the entire Bach family.
This original piece presents a deliberately distorted reimagining of the source work—a personal transformation of Bach’s music, as though his art were reflected through a broken mirror.
The practice of revisiting, recreating, and reinterpreting historical works stems from my admiration for Pablo Picasso’s Las Meninas, itself conceived in dialogue with Diego Velázquez’s masterpiece. The much-cited phrase attributed to Picasso—“Good artists copy, great artists steal”—captures a philosophy of creative adaptation and transformation: not imitation, but the absorption and reconfiguration of existing works so they may re-emerge as something both personal and new. In this sense, transformation becomes a key to innovation, grounded in a deep and active engagement with artistic heritage.
* audio version on piano
* audio version on harpsichord
Albert CARBONELL - NOTEBOOK for ANNA.pdfGoogle Sites
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