Rafael Cavestany

Bach, in memoriam

The work consists of three movements in which there is a continuous presence of the notes B, A, C and H. In an open way, or sounding at the same time (which creates a strong dissonance of four semitones) the four notes are the composing excuse of the whole work. The first movement is a memory of a non-stop life, that turns frenetic and almost painful. It is a quick movement, with no breaks or relief and even hasty some times. It is a memory of the restless life of Bach. A barrage of music with neither pauses nor rests. The second movement is a chant and a moan to his death. With the harpsichord tempo of a funeral march, the movement is ruled by the sound of the cello that, in occasions, tries to raise its sound to the highs, in a praise attitude but also as a sort of reproach for not reaching it. The last movement, 'prestissimo', is the continuous repetition of a sequence of seven bars. They will keep on repeating until the exhausted end from the dynamics of p p p until f f f. This is to exploit the different levels of dynamics that music gives us. At the same time we remember that musicians of the baroque only used as musical and stylistic form passing directly from forte to piano, skipping the medium levels. What Bach never did is used in this movement to the extreme.