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42 BACH / ISOIR_TRANSCRIPTIONS
This magisterial personalisation of the texture is also the hallmark of the
transformation of the Concerto for four harpsichords BWV 1065, which Bach
himself transcribed from Vivaldi’s Concerto for four violins op.3 no.10. Thus Isoir
was obliged virtually to recompose the work in a spirit respecting both its sources.
True to his constant aim of penetrating its essence, he eliminates, sifts and
reconstitutes the material, bringing new pleasure to the ear, which is flattered by
the illusion created through an effective exploitation of the organ’s potential. This
transcription, like several others, went through a number of stages before reaching
its final form in 1985 – the year of the Bach tercentenary! One has memories of
various concerts, reflecting his long frequentation of the work, and of the further
refinements he kept adding, sometimes in the course of recitals at which the
maestro reduced the orchestral score at sight . . .
The Aria of the Ouverture (Orchestral Suite) no.3 BWV 1068, steeped in the French
style, on a slow and subtly dancing rhythm, was again originally written for
strings. Isoir chose shrewdly when he selected this justly famous and endlessly
adaptedmovement for organ transcription. He brings something new to its broad,
soothing theme thanks to a simple idea: he twice reprises the melody in the tenor,
thus introducing a variation of colour and affect in a sort of dialectic of timbres that
underlines the sober grandeur of the discourse.