When Did Pianists Start Playing Bach Again
Senza pedale ma con tanti colori
(Without the pedal but with plenty of colours)
Playing J. S. Bach'southward keyboard music on the mod pianoforte, pianists are confronted with various fundamental questions. The answers to these are never simple.
For example: what is the "right" instrument for the Well-Tempered Clavier? The clavichord, the harpsichord, the organ, the pedal-harpsichord?
Is information technology permitted to play Bach on an instrument that he couldn't have known? If it isn't, whose permission do we need to ask?
What is the correct tempo and character for a item prelude or fugue and how do we observe it? How wide is the dynamic range in this music and does this vary from instrument to musical instrument or from venue to venue?
How exercise we phrase or clear a sure passage or a fugal discipline? Is there need for more than ornamentation? For less? For none?
Which edition is the all-time 1?
Each of these questions – and many more – needs to exist asked and thought nearly. Answering them convincingly requires experience, intelligence and – to quote C.P.E.Bach – "buon gusto", good taste. Decisions demand to be made and information technology takes courage to say: this is the way I want to play this piece, knowing that it volition non be to anybody's liking.
I of the biggest bug is the sustaining pedal, and non just in Bach. This ingenious device enables the player to raise the dampers from the strings, assuasive them to vibrate freely with any notes existence played. Beethoven was the kickoff groovy composer who specifically asked for its application. In his c-sharp pocket-sized sonata Op.27 Nr.two the entire kickoff motion is to exist played "senza sordini", with raised dampers (with pedal).
The upshot is magical, the harmonies are washed together, creating sonorities that are truly revolutionary.
It would exist reasonable to assume that pianists would follow what the composer had asked for; later all Beethoven was quite a decent musician and he certainly knew what he wanted. Wishful thinking, since in fact ninety-9 per cent of them fully ignore the creator's instructions and diligently change the pedal at every change of harmony. WHY? Because, they argue, this effect would take sounded different on Beethoven's fortepiano than it does on its mod successor. Accept these people played on Beethoven'southward Broadwood? No, they certainly haven't but they pretend to know . Well, I beg to differ because I've played and recorded on it. The sound, the volume and the mechanics may be unlike but the actual musical idea is exactly the same. A dissonance remains a dissonance, regardless of the musical instrument.
What does all this take to do with Bach? Quite a lot. The sustaining pedal was non at his disposal on whatever of the keyboard instruments of his time. That means that the pieces that he wrote could be played without the use of the pedal which didn't exist. Consequently, the very same works can as well be played on the modern piano, with viii fingers, ii thumbs and no feet. (The one exception is the a-minor fugue in Book one of the WTC; its terminal bars can't be played with two easily solitary, this being a composition for the organ. Hither the utilise of the sostenuto pedal – the center one of the three – is advisable.)
Does this mean that we accept to disregard this "crown gem" of the instrument when playing Bach? Not necessarily.
It can be used intelligently and discreetly to aid the lack of sonority, specially in venues with dry acoustics. Still, let'south not underestimate the danger of harm that tin be caused by indiscriminate use of the pedal. The pianoforte is non an automobile, where the right foot is permanently on the accelerator pedal. When string players (and singers) use vibrato all the time, on every note, it's unbearable to heed to. The pedal is to the piano as the vibrato is to cord players. Both must be applied with intendance, control and in moderation.
Clarity is essential with Bach, the purity of counterpoint and vocalization-leading must be self-axiomatic, never muffled or dislocated. Thus a discreet apply of the pedal is not forbidden as long as these rules are observed. The question remains whether it is benign to the music to look for easier solutions. A perfect legato on the pianoforte is an impossibility and one tin can only create an illusion of achieving it.
To attempt this with the hands alone is much more difficult merely it's well worth trying. Bach certainly didn't want his music to sound easy, it's demanding for players and listeners alike.
An eminent pianist colleague of mine recently reprimanded me for my "abstinence". His argument was that all the great pianists of the past have played Bach with lots of pedal and we must follow their case. To me this reasoning is non very convincing. The belatedly George Malcolm, a great musician, best known as a harpsichordist, taught me to play Bach without pedal and to bask the delights of purity.
Once a successful immature virtuoso pianist came to him asking if he could play for him Bach's D-major toccata. Malcolm agreed, the boyfriend took his place at the keyboard, put his correct foot on the pedal, raised his arms, and here Malcolm suddenly exclaimed:"Stop!". "Only I haven't played a note withal!" said the victim. "No, only y'all were just virtually going to."
To me, Bach's music is not blackness and white; information technology's full of colours. In my imagination each tonality corresponds to a color. The WTC with its 24 preludes and fugues in all the major and minor keys provides an ideal opportunity for this fanciful fantasy. Allow's imagine that in the start there was innocence and therefore C-major (all white keys) is snow-white. The last piece of both books is in b-minor which is the cardinal to death. Compare the fugue of Volume 1 to the Kyrie of the b-minor mass. This has to be pitch-blackness. Betwixt these two poles we have all the other colours, first the yellows, oranges and ochre (between c-modest and d-small-scale), all the shades of blue (E-flat major to east-pocket-size), the greens (F-major to 1000-minor), pinks and reds (A-flat major to a-minor), browns (B-flat), grey (B-major) and finally blackness.
Of course this is a very personal interpretation and each of you may have a dissimilar opinion. Nevertheless if some of the states happen to believe that music is more than than just a series of notes and sounds, then a little bit of fantasy is welcome.
András Schiff
Firenze, May 2012
Source: https://vanrecital.com/2012/07/andras-schiff-on-playing-bach-and-the-well-tempered-clavier/
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