{"id":1406,"date":"2013-01-24T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2013-01-24T22:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/summathissummathat\/?p=1406"},"modified":"2017-03-17T15:11:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T21:11:39","slug":"andras-schiffs-lifelong-marriage-to-j-s-bach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/summathissummathat\/2013\/01\/andras-schiffs-lifelong-marriage-to-j-s-bach\/","title":{"rendered":"Andras Schiff’s Lifelong Marriage to J.S. Bach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day of my life, I start with playing Bach, usually for about an hour, sometimes even before breakfast!\u00a0It\u2019s like taking care of your inner hygiene. There is something very pure about it.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As a lifelong Bachophile<\/a>. I\u2019ve loved Glenn Gould for about as long as I can remember. (Will we ever see the Crazy Keyboardin\u2019 Canadian\u2019s like again? \u00a0I doubt it.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

During my college years, however, I realized that another pianist was mounting a serious challenge to the once-though unassailable post \u00a0of \u201cMost Beloved Bach Keyboardist:\u201d Andras Schiff. In addition to being about as close to Gould\u2019s technically proficiency as humanly possible, Schiff brings a wonderful warmth and gentleness to Bach\u2019s works \u2014 traits not always found in Gould\u2019s breakneck virtuosity. He is also a far more successful interpreter of non-Bach composers (such as Mozart<\/a> and Schubert<\/a>). And his numerous lectures<\/a>, interviews<\/a>, and master classes<\/a> mark him as both an insightful teacher and affectionate pupil of music.<\/p>\n

All facts which help to explain why this NPR piece<\/a> makes me so happy:<\/p>\n

Schiff needed to improve his dexterity and thought this was the only way. He soon realized, though, that he didn\u2019t need what he called \u201cthose silly exercises\u201d after he found\u00a0J.S. Bach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

Schiff has such an intimate relationship with these works, hearing him play them is like getting an inside view of a wondrously successful lifelong marriage. While there is no gratuitous sentiment, every gesture is suffused with loving tenderness. He plays with both delicacy and directness.<\/p>\n

There is even a kind of personal secret code Schiff has developed with these works, like pet names shared between a loving older couple. Bach carefully laid out the preludes and fugues in both books of his Well-Tempered Clavier: 24 of each, in every possible key, major and minor. Schiff affectionately thinks of each piece as having not just a key but a particular character that he sees as color. D major is a bright, burnished brassy gold.\u00a0A minor<\/a>\u00a0is \u201cpainful, as red as blood can be.\u201d C major is the pure innocence of white. B minor is black, the color of death.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Prelude & Fugue in C (from the Well-Tempered Clavier) included on that post serves as irrefutable evidence that this \u201clifelong marriage\u201d has been a resounding success. But there\u2019s a lot more evidence<\/a> where that came from.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/youtu.be\/wk8H5c_p0z4<\/a>\n

Image Credit: The Guardian\u2019s review<\/a> of Schiff\u2019s 2012 Well-Tempered recording<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvery day of my life, I start with playing Bach, usually for about an hour, sometimes even before breakfast!\u00a0It\u2019s like taking care of your inner hygiene. There is something very pure about it.\u201d As a lifelong Bachophile. I\u2019ve loved Glenn Gould for about as long as I can remember. (Will we ever see the Crazy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1286,"featured_media":1407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\nAndras Schiff's Lifelong Marriage to J.S. 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