Bach Partita no. 5 in G major BWV 829 Albach, Netherlands Bach Society

This Partita in G major, performed here by Elina Albach for All of Bach, is the fifth of a set of six partitas. The piece begins with a movement that Bach called Praeambulum. It is actually a fantasia, a quasi improvised entrée that revolves mainly around simple scales and chords. The unusual title and the musical content make it seem like the start of a musical teaching method. After all, the practice of playing scales also has a history. In Bachs day, fingering traditionally did not use the thumb, so keyboard players played and phrased scales differently to pianists today. However, this tradition was already changing at the time Bach was composing, and the scales in the first movement of this Partita in G major appear to ask the keyboard player: which fingering should you use After the Praeambulum, the other movements demand attention for other aspects of the keyboard players fingers. For instance, the Allemande has evenly phrased triplets, and the Corrente and the Tempo di minuetta are studi