Harpsichord Concerto no. 4

It would be hard to imagine today’s concert repertoire without the harpsichord concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach. It is not known whether the A-major Concerto BWV 1055, like some of the other harpsichord concertos, was originally conceived for a different instrument. In its musical exuberance, the solo part certainly sounds tailor-made for the keyboard instrument. In the original parts, the concerto displays a distinctive feature: one can discern that Bach added a part for violone (a bowed bass instrument) in the tutti sections for later performances and provided the continuo part with thorough-bass figuring. The Henle Urtext edition takes into account both performance possibilities: the conducting score and the individual parts are presented with the two addenda.