Bach: Sonaten, BWV 1027-29 Dag Jensen & Knut Johannessen

• 1 I. Adagio 03:59
• 2 II. Allegro ma non tanto 03:29
• 3 III. Andante 02:14
• 4 IV. Allegro moderato 03:08
• 5 I. Adagio 01:50
• 6 II. Allegro 03:43
• 7 III. Andante 04:42
• 8 IV. Allegro 04:14
• 9 I. Vivace 04:50
• 10 II. Adagio 05:41
• 11 III. Allegro 03:45
• Total Runtime 41:35

Info for Bach: Sonaten, BWV 1027-29

The bassoonist Dag Jensen and his accompanist ion the harpsichord, Knut Johannessen, present an absolute novelty with their album J.S. BACH SONATEN BWV 1027-29. What appears like a daring experiment is not simply made up out of thin air.

It seems unlikely that the three sonatas BWV 1027-1029 were originally written for viola da gamba. It is more probable that Bach arranged them for the instrument later on. Like some of his contemporaries, Bach adapted several of his trio sonatas with basso continuo for a solo instrument and obbligato harpsichord, in which the harpsichord is provided with an upper voice in the right hand and becomes an equal partner to the solo instrument.

Due to the similarity in range of the modern bassoon and the viola da gamba, the notion of transcribing these sonatas for bassoon was an obvious one. For the most part, the sonatas consist of three voices: a high voice in the right hand of the harpsichord in dialogue with the viola da gamba, and a lower voice in the left hand of the harpsichord; this contrapuntal texture results in a viola da gamba part that contains only a very few double stops. This makes transcription for bassoon logical, as almost no harmonies are lost in the process.

Dag Jensen, bassoon
Knut Johannessen, cembalo

Dag Jensen
was born in Horten, Norway and began bassoon lessons at the age of eleven with Robert Rönnes. He later studied with Torleiv Nedberg at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. He won his first orchestral position with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of sixteen and was promoted to co-principal of the same orchestra soon after. He continued to study with Prof. Klaus Thunemann in Hanover.

He was principal bassoonist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1988 and held the same position in the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 1997. He is a member of the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra and the Mito Chamber Orchestra, both with Seiji Ozawa as artistic director. Jensen was the principal bassoonist when Claudio Abbado founded the 'Luzern Festival Orchestra' in 2003.

Dag Jensen won a first prize at the Norwegian Youth Music Competition and twice won the coveted ARD Music Competition in Munich, in 1984 and 1990.

His numerous solo appearances with renowned orchestras including, among many others, Bavarian, West German and South German Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Mito Chamber Orchestra, Japan, the Royal Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Academica, Salzburg, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra Manchester and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra with conductors like Seiji Ozawa, Sandor Vegh, Serge Baudo and Iona Brown have taken him throughout Europe and Japan.

Chamber music plays an important part in his musical life, and he is a member of the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble and of the Ensemble Villa Musica. He is also a regular guest at several music festivals, including the 'Schubertiade', in Feldkirch, Austria, 'Spannungen', in Heimbach and 'Glasbemi September', in Maribor, Slovenia.

His artistic career is well documented on CD, with piano accompaniment as well as chamber music works and bassoon concertos. Dag Jensen was Professor at the Hanover Academy of Music and Theatre from 1997 to 2011, and since 2011 he has been Professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. He is also Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Knut Johannessen
was born in Mandal, Norway. He started playing the piano at the age of five. Fourteen years old he was first prize winner of the Norwegian Radio competition for young musicians and had his soloistic debut with orchestra at the age of sixteen. He studied piano at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Prof. Robert Riefling. His devotion for early music lead him to further harpsichord and fortepiano studies in the Netherlands.

Knut Johannessen has been the harpsichordist of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra since their debut in 1977, and has the same position with both the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic.

As a soloist and chamber musician he has toured and performed with renowned orchestras in Europe, USA and Asia with 7 conductors like Myung-Whun Chung, Iona Brown, Andrew Manze, Marc Soustrot, Frans Brüggen and André Previn. He has toured regularly with Anne-Sophie Mutter since 1999 and made two CDs with her. He is a member of ”Mutter Virtuosi”.

Knut Johannessen has been a leading figure in the early music movement in Norway, and is the founder and artistic leader of Oslo Baroque Orchestra since 1987 with monthly performances in Oslo. He has appeared on numerous recordings with both early and contemporary music.

He has been a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music since 1995.

Booklet for Bach: Sonaten, BWV 1027-29