BACH: The Art of Life
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
rec. 2020, Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts; 2021, Siemens-Villa, Berlin, (Brahms Arr, The Art of Fugue)
Reviewed as a digital download from a press preview
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 483 8530 [2 CDs: 136 mins]
I need to begin this review with a warning: this recording may require the suspension of your normal critical criteria for a performance of the music of JS Bach. And not just for Old Bach but equally for the generous helping also included of the music of his sons. About thirty seconds of the opening track, a sonata by Johann Christian Bach, will tell you whether this is a CD for you. It is languorous, lush and romantic. Trifonov pulls the tempo all over the place for dramatic and emotional effect. He evens points up a phrase that sounds like one from Mozart’s A major piano concerto, K488. It is all rather gorgeous and it doesn’t really sound much like how many people play JC Bach these days. The central issue for me in reviewing this collection was: does it matter? For some, the answer will be a decided No and to those listeners I would say a definite “Go elsewhere”.
The programme divides roughly into three main sections: first, the music of Bach’s sons; second, the domestic music of the Bach household; and third, the Art of Fugue. Trifonov has stated that, for him, what unites these three areas is love: love of family; love of his wife, Anna Magdalena, for whom the notebook was compiled; and love of God reflected in the counterpoint of the Art of Fugue which the composer believed was an expression of a divinely ordained universe.
The first two sections demonstrate the good and the bad about this recording. An unassuming Polonaise by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is stretched out to unconscionable length, yet some of the Bach originals from the Anna Magdalena Notebook, music too often mangled in the hands of learners, are handled with exquisite, if rather anachronistic, care. Think of Horowitz playing Scarlatti and you should get a good idea of Trifonov’s manner.
The one obvious clanger features the particular piece in the programme that looks like it ought to suit Trifonov - the Brahms arrangement for the left hand of the solo violin Chaconne. In this piece Trifonov is often guilty of over earnestness, as if he is trying to prove there is more to him than coruscating octaves in Liszt études. This is very serious playing indeed which has the unfortunate side effect of leaving the music earthbound. To make matters worse, one of Trifonov’s rivals, Igor Levit recorded a near definitive version of the same piece as part of his 2018 collection Life. Levit’s account is everything Trifonov’s isn’t: terrifying, majestic, cathartic and ultimately healing. If this Chaconne doesn’t break the heart and then mend it again then it just isn’t a contender as a performance. Trifonov’s rendition is flat and worthy. The irony is that it is the only piece of music on this CD where he doesn’t flirt with overplaying his hand.
There is a certain symmetry to the most fearsome repertoire included, Bach’s mind boggling contrapuntal compendium, the Art of Fugue, bringing out the most fantastical and playful side of Trifonov’s musical personality. I found it irresistible even as a more staid part of me was spluttering “But, but surely not?” At times I forgot I was listening to the Art of Fugue and had accidentally put on some of the more zany parts of the Goldberg Variations. I could make a very long list of Trifonov’s lapses of taste but I would end up feeling like a Beckmesser. My advice is to suspend disbelief and just wallow.
An aspect of Trifonov’s bewitchment is the emphasis he places on the sensuous side of the music. Frankly, he plays most of it like he was coaxing out an overripe Rachmaninov prelude. His technique means that he can draw out the lines of Bach’s fiendish counterpoint as well as anyone but when he does so it is as if to say ‘look at how ravishing this is’ and he is right – it is ravishing. It is also refreshing to hear a performance of this particular piece that doesn’t feel like a technical lecture. With open ears, this has the potential to transform perceptions of this piece. Somewhat in the manner of a guilty pleasure, I loved it.
David McDade
Contents
Johann Christian BACH (1735-1782)
Sonata No 5 in A major, Op 17 No 5 [6:15]
Wilhelm Friedemann BACH (1710-1784)
12 Polonaises F12: No 8 in E minor, Fk12/8 [5:17]
Carl Philip Emmanuel BACH (1714-1788)
Rondo in C minor, Wq59/4(H283) [4:47]
Johann Christoph Friedrich BACH (1732-1795)
Allegretto con Variazioni ‘Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman’, Wf12/2 [8:48]
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Musette in D major, BWV anh.126 (App.C) [0:56]
Aria ‘Gedenke doch, mein Geist, zurücke', BWV509 [0:42]
Minuet in A minor, BWV anh.120 (App.C) [1:34]
Minuet in F major, BWV anh.113 (App.C) [2:57]
Polonaise in F major, BWV anh.117b (App.C) [0:57]
[Polonaise] in D minor, BWV anh. 128 (App.C) [3:42]
Choral ‘Gib dich zufrieden und sei stille', BWV511 [1:05]
Christian PETZOLD (1677-1733)
Minuet in G major, BWV anh.114 (App.D) [1:46]
Johann Sebastian BACH
Minuet in G major, BWV anh.116 (App.C) [1:12]
Carl Philip Emmanuel BACH
Polonaise in G minor, BWV anh. 125 (App.C) [1:09]
Johann Sebastian BACH
Minuet in C minor, BWV anh. 121 (App.C)
Gottfried Heinrich STÖLZEL (1690-1749)
Bist du bei mir, BWV 508 (formerly attributed J.S.Bach) [3:29]
Johann Sebastian BACH arr. Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Chaconne in D minor for the Left Hand (Piano Studies No 5) [15:01]
Johann Sebastian BACH
The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080 [57:39]
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe / Jesus bleibet meine Freude)
Chorale from the Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 arranged for piano solo by Myra Hess [4:19]
