Re: bwv 1060

[john burke <john.burke@mindspring.com>]

on 8/4/00 1:09 PM, Bradley Lehman at bpl@UMICH.EDU wrote:

> Also in that recording Alastair Ross on harpsichord does a great job laying
> in some very casual spreads of chords, so the accompaniment is not just
> plunk-plunk-plunk from everybody.  That's one of the best ways to play
> harpsichord continuo, in my opinion: put in things that enhance the
> character of the movement, the more lyrically the better in this type of
> music.  Play the mood above all, and in big gestures expressing the musical
> dynamics, rather than slavishly duplicating all the bass notes covered by
> other players.  Sort of a "Count Basie" style of ensemble accompaniment:
> nothing so lavish that it distracts or seems busy.

Excellent comparison. I've long felt that baroque continuo playing shares a
lot, both in form and in function, with jazz rhythm section work. What's
described here is what jazz players call "comping," and it's a highly
specialized art in itself; it includes the judicious use of "fills" when the
melodic instruments are pausing or sustaining a note, "riffs" (close kin to
ostinati), and other devices that baroque players would be well-advised to
study.

--best, jvb