He is familiar with the music of the Bach era and has already released an album with music by the Bach family. Now the always highly motivated French harpsichord virtuoso is dedicating himself to Jean Rondeau one of the central works of the baroque grandmaster Johann Sebastian Bach, namely his Goldberg Variations (Erato). The legendary work has always inspired artists, most recently pianist Lang Lang in a revealing combination of studio recording and live recording.
While Lang Lang followed the performance tradition of the piece very closely, which was shaped by Wanda Landowska and Glenn Gould for a long time, Jean Rondeau approaches the initial theme in a very relaxed and almost meditative manner, only to open up ever greater musical spaces in the following variations. Rondeau’s impartiality is refreshingly idiosyncratic and yet very precisely geared to the work from which he draws his musical inspiration. Rondeau is always a musical believer. However, despite his musical seriousness, he is not a dogmatist. Ultimately, his playing captivates above all through the glowing combination of charm, esprit and devotion to Bach’s masterpiece.
To the other central work of Bach’s counterpoint, namely “The Art of Fugue“, the young Italian pianist concentrates Filippo Gorini (alpha). That’s brave. grandmaster Daniel Trifonov finally released the work last autumn in a recording that set standards. However, Gorini does not measure himself with it, he takes a different approach – a spacious, hesitant approach. In presenting the theme, he plays at a moderate tempo and full of astonishment at how Bach develops an increasingly complex cosmos from the simple exposition, which in the end can hardly be overseen. For Gorini, the melody is the “actual heart” of this work: “Anyone who regards it only as a theoretical marvel is wrong.” Because to the extent that the canons increase in complexity, the emotional tension also increases. And unlike Trifonov, who seeks perfection in this work and completes it himself after Bach was unable to finish composing it, for Gorini the surprising break in the music is its real highlight. However, this also seems to include the disappointment that one cannot completely avoid as a musician given the lack of a degree. Gorini consoles himself with self-composed sonnets and haikus, which he precedes the contrapunctibus and canons.
Contrary to this, searches Zoltan Kocsis in his recording of the art of fugue from 1984 the shortest route to the factory. Without beating around the bush, with direct access and brisk steps, he confronts the piece with the pianist rather than the other way around. He also uses the sound possibilities of the modern grand piano with self-confidence and self-confidence, which above all means a wide range of volume levels. Kocsis doesn’t shy away from extremes either. At times one almost gets the impression that he would have preferred to have had an organ at his disposal, so much does he expand the piano sound. It is clear: For Kocsis, the musical truth lies in the hands of the pianist. And, what can one say: after listening intensively for a while, one believes him. With Bach’s Art of Fugue he opens the edition of his recordings for Philips (Decca).
For many, Bach’s “Art of Fugue” is a kind of opus summum, a summary of his skills, concentrated on artistic counterpoint, i.e. the compositional technique that is also evident in popular canon singing and in the European Renaissance, i.e. long before Bach, had its heyday. When listening to such different recordings, however, aspects are also revealed that one does not immediately think of when studying counterpoint. For example the topic of rhythmic structuring. And here we come even further into the past, namely to the Greek musician and philosopher Aristoxenos. He was one of Aristotle’s outstanding students, even if he is not necessarily named first among music philosophers today. Perhaps because he rejected the teachings of Pythagoras and erected his own constructs of thought? That now his writing “Elements of rhythm – theory of musical time” (Meiner Verlag, 142 p., 32 euros) was published in an exemplary bilingual edition, extensively commented and provided with an informative introduction, is a credit to good old publishing. You don’t have to be a scientist to read this not very long work And certainly not to get excited about how people thought about music back then.