Bach: Concerti, Capriccio & Aria Olivier Cavé

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Concerto in F Major, BWV 978 (From Antonio Vivaldi RV 310)
• 1I. Allegro02:12
• 2II. Largo01:46
• 3III. Allegro01:58
• Concerto in D Minor, BWV 974 (From Alessandro Marcello)
• 4I. Allegro02:32
• 5II. Adagio03:45
• 6III. Presto03:18
• Concerto in G Major, BWV 973 (From Antonio Vivaldi RV 299)
• 7I. Allegro02:07
• 8II. Largo02:26
• 9III. Allegro01:56
• Concerto in D Minor, BWV 981 (From Benedetto Marcello)
• 10I. Adagio01:50
• 11II. Vivace01:37
• 12III. Grave02:21
• 13IV. Prestissimo03:56
• Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971
• 14I. Allegro03:39
• 15II. Andante04:28
• 16III. Presto03:23
• Aria variata alla maniera Italiana in A Minor, BWV 989
• 17Aria01:13
• 18Variazione I00:49
• 19Variazione II00:43
• 20Variazione III00:40
• 21Variazione IV00:47
• 22Variazione V00:35
• 23Variazione VI01:11
• 24Variazione VII00:39
• 25Variazione VIII00:32
• 26Variazione IX00:41
• 27Variazione X01:22
• Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo in B-Flat Major, BWV 992
• 28I. Arioso (Adagio)01:53
• 29II. Fughetta01:10
• 30III. Adagiosissimo02:45
• 31IV. Andante00:32
• 32V. Allegro poco - Aria del postiglione01:08
• 33VI. Fuga all'imitazione della posta02:15
• Total Runtime01:02:09

Info for Bach: Concerti, Capriccio & Aria

After having dedicated his first two albums to Domenico Scarlatti and Muzio Clementi, two composers who propagated Italian music for keyboard throughout Europe, Olivier Cavé offers his newest recording to Johann Sebastian Bach, calling it: “Concerti, Capriccio e Aria - Nel Gusto Italiano”. The program again features Italian music - this time by a German composer enraptured with and influenced by an Italian style that would have an immense impact on his work.

In 1711, Antonio Vivaldi published his first concertos. Bach discovered the new form and was fascinated by it, so different was it from his. He transcribed for the harpsichord and organ a series of concertos by the Italian masters as he sought to assimilate the very heart of the music; and it was those transcriptions that would set the groundwork for his own Italian Concerto for the keyboard.

Johann Sebastian Bach loved to travel and doubtless longed to visit Italy. This recital is an invitation to embark with Bach upon an imaginary journey through Venice, and throughout Italy.

Olivier Cavé, piano

Recorded by Johannes Kammann (nordklang)

Olivier Cavé
Born in Switzerland on December 18, 1977, Olivier Cavé studied piano at Sion Conservatory and later at the Conservatory in Lausanne where he earned a Diplôme de Piano with honors and was the recipient of an accolade for excellence. The pianist also participated in master classes given by Maria Lilia Bertola in Milan and by Nelson Goerner in Geneva. 1995 brought Cavé into the sphere of Maria Tipo, whose master classes he attended at the Fiesole School of Music, followed by a two and a half year study under Aldo Ciccolini in Italy and France.

Cavé gave his first concert with the Camerata Lysy under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin in September of 1991. He has collaborated with artists such as Alexis Weissenberg, Menahem Pressler, Arie Vardi, Howard Griffiths, Tibor Varga, Barbara Hendricks and Isabelle Huppert, and performed as a soloist with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Galileo Galilei Orchestra of Fiesole, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Kammerorchesterbasel).

In June 2000, Olivier Cavé placed among the finalists of the Clara Schumann Competition in Dusseldorf. In 2002, he performed Beethoven’s first piano concerto for an RAI radio broadcast as part of a special series featuring a comprehensive program of Beethoven’s concertos for piano and orchestra in honor of Maria Tipo’s 70th birthday. He was invited by La Scala in Milan for the reopening of the theater museum and library in 2003 where he performed Liszt’s opera transcriptions on a piano that once belonged to the composer.

Olivier Cavé’s first recording “Réflexions” was released by Deutsche Grammophon in May of 2004; the CD features works by Beethoven, Schubert, Scarlatti and Schumann. His career took a new turn in September 2008 with the release of his first recording for Aeon, which features sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. Critics across Europe praised the Swiss pianist with Neapolitan roots for having returned to the source. Dedicated to Muzio Clementi, Cavé’s second recording is even more striking than his first. Released in the autumn of 2010, the CD was given a 5 Diapason rating, 4 Stars from Classica and the highest award from the Japanese magazine Geijutsu Records. This success also led to invitations to perform at prestigious locations throughout the world, such as the Teatro Olimpico in Rome, the Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Phillips Collection in Washington.

His tour along the American eastern seaboard, during which he presented a program entitled “Il Pianoforte Italiano” and gave master classes at Duke and West Virginia Universities, was a great success and preceded his debut with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in February 2012 under the direction of Rinaldo Alessandrini, where the pianist was praised as a "model of refinement behind the keyboard". The performances drew wide attention from both public and press.

Early in August 2012, Olivier Cavé made a remarkable debut at La Roque d'Anthéron International Piano Festival in France. He will release his third disc with Aeon in May 2013, dedicated solely to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and entitled, “Nel gusto italiano – Concerti, Capriccio e Aria,” a program which the pianist interpreted in January of this year at Venice's Teatro La Fenice and will bring to his debut at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad in August.

This album contains no booklet.