Bach’s Badinerie is a lively, charming flute piece that has become a favorite for virtuoso (or fancy) adaptations.
Badinerie is a music term frequently used in the Baroque era used to describe light, lively, and playful pieces. It’s basically a French word meaning “playfulness” or “jesting.” Bach used the title Badinerie for only one piece—the last movement of his Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067. It’s a short, bouncy small piece full of joyful rapid notes, originally meant for flute solo, with strings and continuo (harpsichord + bass line).
Like, the melody is full of sixteenth-note runs and leaps, it sounds really elegant (and Bach). Because it being a rare lively joyful FAST Bach (with brilliant runs and melodies) many pianists and composers have adapted it for piano. Yuja Wang has a really fancy version (someone recorded her Encore performance and posted on YouTube). I personally recommend Romanovsky’s version—instead of turning it into a Lizst-like showpiece, Romanovsky kept the piano adaption pure, clean, and true to Bach’s original orchestration. The technical brilliance is in service of orchestral clarity—instead of “showing off” as a pianist, it’s a great choice to make the piano serve Bach’s pure brilliance while still making it sound orchestral and layered.