Having recently reviewed another new recording of the Two-Part
inventions played
by
Till
Fellner and already put it to one side as one of my Discs of the Year, I
was in a rather greater state of trepidation than usual when offered another
new recording of partially the same repertoire played by a pianist for whose
work I’ve already expressed an admiration on these pages. Having lived
with both versions of the
Two-Part Inventions and
Sinfonias for
some time now, I am at least relieved of the responsibility of choosing a preference
for one over the other. This is not an attack of cowardice on my part, I’ve
simply found that each performance fits more into one ‘stream’ than
another, and therefore will, if you are anything like me, appeal more to you
in certain moods or certain times of the day than others. This is a terrible,
consumerist way to look at music, but short of analysing every note and inflection,
it does sum up the differences between each recording fairly well in my view.
With Fellner I made the comparison with Sviatoslav Richter, and I still associate
Fellner’s richness of sound and expressive approach with the atmosphere
of Richter’s recordings of the ‘Well Tempered Clavier.’ I don’t
want to push either pianist irrevocably into any kind of camp or category, but
having put Fellner against Richter in this case I feel obliged to put Bacchetti
against Glenn Gould. By no means are even the majority of his lovely readings
of the
Two Part Inventions directly ‘Gouldesque’, but starting
with the crisper Fazioli piano sound, there are enough cases to back up the comparison.
With the opening C major invention I wondered at first if this was a live recording,
with some jingling of keys, a bit of shuffling about, and someone clearing their
throat 15 seconds into the second C minor invention. There is no mention of this
in the booklet, though as with other live recordings the access points sometimes
show the pieces being played without a break. In any case things soon settle
down and there are no major distractions. The piano does have a bit of a metallic
buzz on one or two notes in the right hand, but again this is something to which
the ear can adjust with little difficulty.
Having thus digressed, I hear Gould
somewhat in the measured approach Bacchetti takes to ornamentation, to some of
the well-planned contrasts in articulation such as the separation of notes in
the 5
th E Flat invention
BWV 776. Bacchetti doesn’t apply
this as a restriction to Bach’s expressiveness, and he is a good deal less ‘cool’ than
Gould, applying his own individual taste when it comes to a certain amount of
romantic treatment of the music. As commented before on this kind of piano interpretation,
the instrument influences the character of the playing to a greater or lesser
degree. The shaping of phrases through dynamics is not a feature of harpsichord
performance, and the natural fluctuations of tempo while maintaining the inner
pulse are handled bearing this and the sustaining power of the modern grand in
mind. Beautiful atmosphere and legato playing are again aspects of Bacchetti’s
playing which bring me back every time, such as in the 9
th F minor
BWV
780 and 11
th G minor
BWV 782 inventions, and it is in these
movements that Bacchetti imbues these relatively simple works with a similar
power to something like the
Goldberg Variations. If you don’t know
these works and have until now felt that they won’t offer the same effect
as that famous cycle, then here is a very good place to have your misconceptions
seriously and pleasantly re-assessed.
The same goes for the three-part
Sinfonias, like the
Two-Part Inventions originally
written as educational pieces for Bach’s eldest son Wilhelm Friedmann.
In some of these performances one has the impression that Bacchetti is on his
own spontaneous journey of discovery, and as a result pieces such as
No.2
in C minor become a freshly verdant jungle of brand new musical territory.
With the increase in parts, Bacchetti seems to widen his dynamic range; this
no doubt being an illusion brought out by the extra layering in the counterpoint.
The breadth of vision can also take on an entirely new scale in this recording,
and slowness is a feature of some pieces. For instance,
No.4 in D minor comes
in at a stately 3:25, to Fellner’s fluently brisk 1:04. Yes, it is like
listening to two entirely different pieces, but thank goodness for that says
I.
Both versions work, and Bach’s genius is neither falsely flattered
nor flattened by being shown in two such remarkably different lights. Despite
Bacchetti’s slower tempi, I always maintain the feeling that his ideas
and playing are more ‘awake’ and involving than many, even Fellner,
whose recording I still have near the top of my personal discoveries of the year.
Fellner is more comforting and ‘late night’ in overall impression.
Bacchetti is more driven and intense, even at those slower tempi. Just take
No.6
in E major, where Feller’s notes fall like a beautiful curtain. Bacchetti
is more attentive to a different kind of detail, gently teasing more from the
smaller moments as well as portraying the bigger picture differently, finding
the climax at that interrupted ‘golden section’ cadence at 1:00,
where Fellner smoothes this over as more of a transitional moment, focussing
his ultimate direction more towards the end of the coda.
No.8 in F major is
another case in point. Fellner’s 1:13 traversal bounces along lightly,
with a nice sense of horizontal flow but turning the piece into something of
an intermezzo against Bacchetti’s 1:49, at which pace he is able to pay
as much attention to the endings of notes as well as their varied articulation.
This playing is more analytical, but if anyone’s music is capable of being
held up to a magnifying glass then it is that of J.S. Bach. We are transported
to different realms in
No.9 in F minor, with Bacchetti’s reverential
5:30 pushing the boundaries but also creating a greater sense of ecstasy than
Fellner’s milder 3:18. This is another of those voyages of discovery, the
dissonances taking on an entirely different meaning and emphasis - crucifixion
and release rather than a reflective walk through the graveyard. It’s not
all blood and tears however, and where Bach is more relaxed as in
No.12 in
A Major Bacchetti is also more urbane, still bringing us to the full heights
with the nicely wrought climax, but here as elsewhere perfectly understating
the lesser voices.
Like Till Fellner’s single disc, the first of Bacchetti’s double
CD package ends with a French Suite, in this case the
French Suite No. 6 In
E Major BWV 817 as opposed to
No.5 on the ECM release. Beautifully
played and relatively uncontroversial, Bacchetti is sensitive to the dance origins
of the movements while at the same time bringing out the best of a stately
Sarabande and
the simple two-part texture of the
Polonaise. Some of the trademark ornamental
runs adorn the
Menuet, which is also rather segmented at each cadence
rather than through-flowing. Gentle virtuosity graces the
Bourée,
and the final
Gigue is taken as a rather firm finale, but with plenty
of playfulness in the interaction between the parts.
The second disc of this set is recorded in the somewhat drier acoustic of the
Fazioli Concert Hall. Having heard a number of Bacchetti’s recordings made
here I have become quite used to its characteristics. The space creates a fairly
intimate atmosphere without sounding too enclosed, but here it does tend to impose
a kind of mid-range bulge on the piano sound, so that even Bacchetti’s
crisp and tightly controlled articulation can have a more woolly aura than one
might hope for. This is a mild effect, and one of those things which you probably
wouldn’t notice in isolation and over some sound systems, but following
the one disc directly with the other highlights the differences, as do my cripplingly
pricey headphones. The programme opens with another of Bach’s masterpieces,
the
Partita No.2 BWV 826. As with the earlier French Suite, I don’t
find much controversy in Bacchetti’s stylistic approach or execution of
this piece. While in the main the performance is pretty much top drawer I was
however less convinced by the
Courante, where the rapid ornamentation
runs up against marginally too wild a tempo, resulting in something scribbly
and somewhat incoherent, rather than the ‘superbe’ effect that was
probably intended. This was my only worry in this piece. The opening
Sinfonia has
that opening mix of fantasia grandness and almost naively simple two-part writing
down to a T, and the following counterpoint has power and direction. I like the
gentle but unsentimental touch in that
Allemande, as well as the romantic
flavour which gives the
Sarabande a wistful and reflective feel. The playful
nature of the
Rondeau is also given a certain amount of intensity through
the extra ornamentation later on, and a rhythmically uplifting
Capriccio with
which to finish makes this a
Partita No.2 a more valuable contribution
to this collection than the ‘and other keyboard works’ status it
has on the front billing.
The rest of the second disc is taken up with less commonly recorded Bach keyboard
works. Quoting musicologist Alberto Basso, who writes of Bach’s ‘Klaviermusik’ of
the period 1717 to 1723 in Köthen that “The basis of all of Bach’s
output... would seem to be defined by two collections clearly intended for the
use of family members, and constructed so as to provide a practice tool of a
very particular outline. The first of these anthologies bears the title
Clavierbüchlein
vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.” Composition of the Clavierbüchlein
for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann was begun in 1720 and completed several
years later. This collection of works contains the fifteen
Two-Part Inventions BWV
772-786, and the fifteen
Sinfonias BWV 787-801, but is also the source
of the
Kleine Präludien BWV 924-32, the
Sechs kleine Präludien
BWV 933-38 and the
Fünf kleine Präludien BWV 939-43. These
have long figured as classics of keyboard teaching and, while generally very
short, they draw on all the technical and instrumental practices of the day,
moving between dance forms to fugue, expressive pieces to canons.
While some of these pieces are of their nature less musically high flying than
many of the
Two-Part Inventions and
Sinfonias, there are plenty
of typical J.S. Bach gems, such as the
Prelude in D major BWV 936 with
its light-footed walking bass. Some are little more than musical sketches; the
Prelude
in C major BWV 939 lasting only a dramatic 37 seconds, and some are more
famous than others, such as the running semiquavers of the
Prelude in C minor
BWV 999. Andrea Bacchetti makes the most of each, pulling out all the stops
with miniature masterpieces such as the
Prelude in A minor BWV 942 and
elsewhere. The
Kleine Fugen und Präludien Mit Fughetten which finish
this varied and exiting programme were new to me, but are every bit as worthwhile
as the rest. The high points are arguably the emotionally searching D minor
BWV
899 and the expansive E minor
BWV 900, but either way, if your Bach
keyboard collection needs broadening this is a one-stop place to take you well
beyond familiar orbits and into the realms of gently fascinating discovery.
Dominy Clements
Andrea Bacchetti (piano)
