Erbarme dich from St Matthew Passion, Transcription by Frederic Chiu

The duet for alto and violin "Erbarme dich", from the St Matthew Passion of JS Bach, is one of the highlights of the entire Baroque masterpiece.
This transcription was begun in the early 2000s, but left unfinished until 2007, on the occasion of the untimely death of the conductor Richard Kapp. I was lucky to have had numerous occasions to work with Maestro Kapp and his Philharmonia Orchestra, and would consider him an important mentor. His death left a prominent vacuum in the NY music scene that has yet to be filled by someone with his combination of experience, knowledge, wisdom, entrepreneurship and consummate artistry.
The work was premiered at the Metropolitan Museum's commemorative concert for Maestro Kapp. It has since been recorded for my Hymns & Dervishes album on Centaur Records, as a finale to that program of music of Gurdjieff/De Hartmann.
The newly edited score is available at https://www.fredericchiu.com/product-page/erbarme-dich-from-st-matthew-passion

From my notes to the score:
"The universality of the music of JS Bach is demonstrated again and again, across time and space. Across time, spanning 3 centuries and still counting, as the music continues to move and touch listeners today, whether connoisseurs, amateurs or novices. Across space, as the music takes countless shapes and forms, played by instruments original, modern, electronic and more. The core of the music transcends in the best performances, no matter when or where.
Layered on these centuries is an almost equally long tradition of transcribing Bach, particularly for solo piano, a venerable tradition, and my hope is to contribute tot hat rich catalogue, in the ethos of Ferruccio Busoni, to wit: faithfulness to the score insomuch as the score is faithful to the spirit of the music. For Busoni, this meant octave doublings and harmonizations, phrasings and dynamics, which provide the scope of my own transformation.
The decision to transcribe is always an emotional one for me - usually treating music that has a personal as well as a musical significance. In this case, memories of recordings playing on old LPs and reel-to-reel tapes of radio broadcasts unfold as surely in my mind as the music itself. If I could transcribe the crackle of the needle a few seconds before the music starts, I would."

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