 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(February 2023) |
Benjamin Alard | |
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 Benjamin Alard in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 13 July 1985 Rouen, France |
| Genres | Baroque music |
| Instrument(s) | Organ, Harpsichord, Clavichord, Claviorgan, Pedal harpsichord, Clavicytherium |
| Labels | Harmonia Mundi |
| Website | www |
Benjamin Alard (born 13 July 1985, Rouen, France) is a French classical organist, harpsichordist and clavichordist.
Benjamin Alard's principal passion has always been the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and it was for his interpretation of this great composer that he was awarded First Prize and Prize of the audience in the 2004 International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges. [1]
While still quite young he began studying music in his hometown in Dieppe, France. He was soon drawn to the organ and entered the Conservatory of Rouen where he studied with Louis Thiry and François Ménissier.
He was first introduced to the harpsichord by Elizabeth Joyé, with whom he studied in Paris before going on, in 2003, to the Schola Cantorum in Basel to work with Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, Jean-Claude Zehnder and Andrea Marcon.
Since 2005 he has been organist of the Bernard Aubertin organ in the church of Saint-Louis-en-l'Île in Paris where each season he gives concerts about the music of Bach.
Today Benjamin Alard divides his time between performing recitals and Chamber music on both the harpsichord and organ. He often performs repertoire for two harpsichords with Elisabeth Joyé, in duo with the violinist François Fernandez or in trio but also with flautist Emmanuel Pahud. He is regularly invited to perform as soloist or concertist in music series in Europe, Japan and North America.
Benjamin Alard performs regularly in principal musical centers world-wide, from Paris to Moscow and Saint-Peterbourg (Mariinsky Theatre) and further afield, to Tokyo, Washington, San Diego, Boston, Madrid, Barcelona, Switzerland or Belgium.
Benjamin Alard has recorded for the label Hortus and has made several recordings of works by J.S. Bach for Alpha Classics (Trio Sonatas, Clavier-Übung I and II). His recordings have consistently received high praise from the press and have been awarded multiple prizes. He now devotes himself to the complete works for harpsichord and organ solo of Johann Sebastian Bach for harmonia mundi. Seven boxes, of 18, are already available. The artistic approach of Benjamin Alard, as well as his huge project, have been widely acclaimed by classical magazines and cultural medias around the world. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] In October 2022, harmonia mundi has published the seventh volume dedicated to Bach's "Orgelbüchlein".
Source: [7]
The Art of Fugue, or The Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, The Art of Fugue is the culmination of Bach's experimentation with monothematic instrumental works.
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The Partitas, BWV 825–830, are a set of six keyboard suites written by Johann Sebastian Bach, published individually beginning in 1726, then together as Clavier-Übung I in 1731, the first of his works to be published under his own direction. They were, however, among the last of his keyboard suites to be composed, the others being the six English Suites, BWV 806-811 and the six French Suites, BWV 812-817, as well as the Overture in the French style, BWV 831.
Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is a collection of keyboard music compiled by the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann. It is frequently referred to simply as Klavierbüchlein.
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The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, clavier referred to a variety of stringed keyboard instruments, most typically the harpsichord or clavichord, but excluding the organ, which is not a stringed keyboard.
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The Clavier-Übung III, sometimes referred to as the German Organ Mass, is a collection of compositions for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, started in 1735–36 and published in 1739. It is considered Bach's most significant and extensive work for organ, containing some of his most musically complex and technically demanding compositions for that instrument.
The six sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord BWV 1014–1019 by Johann Sebastian Bach are works in trio sonata form, with the two upper parts in the harpsichord and violin over a bass line supplied by the harpsichord and an optional viola da gamba. Unlike baroque sonatas for solo instrument and continuo, where the realisation of the figured bass was left to the discretion of the performer, the keyboard part in the sonatas was almost entirely specified by Bach. They were probably mostly composed during Bach's final years in Cöthen between 1720 and 1723, before he moved to Leipzig. The extant sources for the collection span the whole of Bach's period in Leipzig, during which time he continued to make changes to the score.
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Throughout the 18th century, the appreciation of Johann Sebastian Bach's music was mostly limited to distinguished connoisseurs. The 19th century started with publication of the first biography of the composer and ended with the completion of the publication of all of Bach's known works by the Bach Gesellschaft. A Bach Revival had started from Mendelssohn's performance of the St Matthew Passion in 1829. Soon after that performance, Bach started to become regarded as one of the greatest composers of all times, if not the greatest, a reputation he has retained ever since. A new extensive Bach biography was published in the second half of the 19th century.
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