Show 209: Performing Bach on the Piano

I got an idea for the theme for this show at the last possible minute, so this is being put together in hurry.  The inspiration for the show is this video:



To make things absolutely clear, when Bach was writing his music, the modern piano (or even any sort of piano) did not exist, or was in the experimental stages.  Bach may have played a very early piano a couple of years before he died.  But this means he could not have possibly written the greater part of his keyboard music for the piano.)

But today, most ordinary musicians who don't have harpsichords, and people generally, play Bach on the piano.  To some, this is sacrilege.  But Andras Schiff explains why it actually makes musical sense to play Bach on the piano as well as on the original intended instrument.  He goes on to explain what the original instruments must have been, for the 48 Preludes and Fugues (the so-called Well Tempered Clavier), which was one of Bach's best-known composition cycles.  They were not intended all to be played on the same instrument.

Musicians of our time who actually preferred to play Bach on the piano include Glenn Gould (who died a few years ago), Angela Hewitt, Andras Schiff, and Murray Perahia.  There's absolutely no doubt that the lowly piano, which so many middle-class families own, is a perfect miracle of engineering and instrument development.  (Unfortunately not a very durable miracle.  In my humble opinion, someone should consider inventing an --acoustic-- Piano made out of fiberglass and plastic, even if there is a small lessening of tone quality.  The piano is, regrettably, one of the few instruments whose value actually depreciates, unlike a violin or a flute, for instance.  And it is due to the sort of construction used.)  So it is all the more satisfying to hear Andras Schiff's endorsement of the appropriateness of using one to play Bach.

As a general principle, most musicologists and music-lovers agree that there is great benefit in hearing music by any great composer performed on instruments similar to--or identical with--those the composer imagined his music to be written for.  I do not take an extreme view of this; once you've heard a piece on "original instruments," there's nothing wrong in preferring to hear the piece played on modern instruments.  But we owe the composer at least one listen on the original, or authentic, instrumentation.  But, let's face it, using non-authentic instruments is just a whole lot of fun!


Part A
Glenn Gould: Prelude in C
Bach-Gounod: Ave Maria
Andras Schiff interview: Segment 1
Richard Troeger: Partita #1 in B flat major-Giga
Glenn Gould: Italian Concerto F Major III - Presto, I - Allegro.
Glenn Gould: Art of Fuge - Contrapunctus IV

Part B
Glenn Gould: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier Book 1, Fugue in A minor
Andras Schiff Interview,
Christmas Oratorio: Pastoral Symphony
Karl Muchinger, Stuttgart Kammerorchester: Schafe konnen sicher weiden
Glenn Gould: Goldberg Variations, Aria
Goldberg Variations 1, 2.

Part C
Andras Schiff Interview,
Artur Schnabel: Toccata for keyboard in C minor BWV 911
Artur Schnabel: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue for keyboard in D minor, BWV 903- Fantasia
Artur Schnabel: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue-Fugue
Angela Hewitt: Italian Concerto for keyboard solo in F major, BWV 971 - Andante

Part D
Angela Hewitt: French Overture for keyboard in B minor, BWV 831
Myra Hess: Transcription of "Jesu bleibet meine Freude" from BWV 147
Angela Hewitt: Dances from BWV 831.

Thanks for listening!

Archie