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Every
piano teacher puts his/her students through Bach, and if you ask
the teacher, the standard remark would be "it goes without saying
- it is a necessity". Well, like Bach or loathe him and his piano
works, I must point out that one's musical understanding of other
music becomes so enriched when one listens to him, and better still:
when one plays his music.
The
works here were written for his son; the CD sleeve quotes the preface
to the manuscript, which states that
"...wherein lovers
of the clavier, but especially those desirous of learning
are shown a clear way not only
(1) to learn to play
cleanly in 2 voices, but also, after further progress
(2) to deal correctly
and well with 3 obbligato parts, simultaneously, furthermore,
not merely to acquire good inventions (ideas), but to
develop the same properly, and above all to arrive at
a singing manner in playing, and at the same time to acquire
a strong foretaste of composition.
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
Kapellmeister to His Serene Highness the Prince of Anhalit
Cothen
Anno Christi 1723
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The
works begin gradually in difficulty and expound on the 2-part
voices followed by the 3-parters. Well, one may ask what are
this Two- and Three-Part Inventions? The word "inventions"
originated from violin pieces written by Bonporti, which Bach
copied into his notebooks. What he did was for the right hand
(voice) to play the main melody and the left hand to imitate
the right. This has to be achieved through various techniques
such as modulation, progression and also transposition of keys
- but all with the intention of imitation in the left or right
hand.
With
the introduction of the third voice, there are now three melodies
imitating each other. Teachers pay special attention to their students
playing these things by asking them to point out the main voice
and what voice is being imitated. Often when one melody takes over,
the melody line is played with a little more forte and the
other voice takes a back seat. Bach had this special ability to
make one voice imitate the main melody in so many different ways
that it is on the onus of the student to pick out main one, to bring
it out in performance.
This
is why it is very important to get a good grounding in the fundamentals
of Bach's music, so that when one moves on to the Partitas,
the 48 Preludes and Fugues and even the Suites, a
student is immediately able to "see" the main melody line. If one
does not realise this, Bach's music becomes pedantic, sterile, dull,
boring - lacking any depth.
These
works are arranged in ascending keys and Bach introduces new keyboard
skills along the way with trills, appogiaturas, slurs, phrasing,
staccatos, and so on. Mind you he did not put any fingering to the
scores of all his works, from the basics to the bigger ones like
the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, the last piece on this
disc. The legendary virtuoso Lazar Berman has been known to have
practised the two- and three-parts in octaves, changing the fingering
along the way, trying out new ways of managing and expressing the
musical score.
Angela
Hewitt really needs no introduction in terms of the Bach repertoire,
and she displays all the capabilities of a skilled Bach exponent.
However I did find that the Inventions were played at a rather
fast pace. As a piano student myself who knew certain pieces from
the set well, I doubt that one should play them that fast. However
in the slower pieces, Hewitt's purpose becomes clearer. Both voices
are clearly defined and even with elastic tempi nothing is overly
indiscreet.
In
the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue all polyrhythmic figurations
are always treated with eloquence and grace, with nothing unpretentious.
As a Bach exponent Hewitt possesses lissome and flexible fingers
and this is seen in her clear legato phrasing which is unique and
often quite original. Yet nothing too obscure like that of Glenn
Gould or Ivo Pogerelich. Even Hewitt's staccatos vary in detachment
and we get a glimpse of the different kinds of articulation that
makes Bach's music a must for his students.
This
disc is definitely a highly recommended introduction to the music
student who wants to get his fundamentals correct.
Johann
D'Souza's mission for the millenium - Visit South America and
have coffee in a café in Vienna.
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533:
19.7.1999 ©Johann D'Souza
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