![]() Pianists are usually taught to follow the contour of a phrase by underscoring it dynamically-increasing or decreasing the volume in imitation of an idealized “vocal” interpretation. That phrasing, in fact, is what offers a clue. It’s an understated perpetuum mobile, tumbling nonchalantly in mirrored phrases. The simplicity of the C# major prelude allows us to parse some of what makes Mehldau’s Bach playing unique. The piece ends in the pensive mode it began, its harmonies still restless, finally sticking the landing with a last-minute swerve into D major. Rhythms increase in speed and complexity, the triplets turning into 16 th-notes and finally vertiginous 16 th-note triplets, ascending the keyboard until they literally run out of space. Development begins immediately, rolling triplets pushing inexorably higher, that falling fifth ringing out from all registers of the piano. But right off the bat, Mehldau’s subject wanders through brazenly distant harmonies-one quickly realizes that this fugue will not abide by Bach’s rules. The album’s prologue, Before Bach: Benediction, begins indelibly, its falling fifth calling to mind the same interval which opens Bach’s Art of the Fugue. Rather, After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit. There have always been elements of Mehldau’s style that recall Bach, especially his densely-woven voicing-but he’s not striving to imitate or play dress-up. In the process, he makes a case for a third stream of Bach interpretation, sitting comfortably alongside the individualist (think Glenn Gould) and the historically-faithful (John Eliot Gardiner’s cantata cycle). Some three centuries after the fact, Brad Mehldau takes up this tradition and applies it to a frustratingly unknowable aspect of Bach’s art. ![]() As the disciplines of composer and performer became increasingly specialized, they became separate jobs improvisation left the tradition over time, as written scores became more complex and virtuosic. But we can’t know the half of it as a professional organist, much of Bach’s work took the form of improvisation, and during his lifetime it was the virtuosity and complexity of these improvisations for which he was most admired. When we think of Bach, we tend to think of him as the scholarly artist, a consummate craftsman turning out work after work of immutable brilliance. I had the pleasure of listening to it many times and writing the liner note, as follows. ![]() Brad Mehldau’s album After Bach is out this month on Nonesuch Records. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2023
Categories |