The first movement of the second partita, the sinfonia, opens with this dotted pattern of block chords with arpeggiated ones in-between. While Schiff and others play the passage with speed and ungraceful mechanical force, Gould splits the section up into two distinct parts. The block chords and the arpeggiated chords. He keeps it very "baroque" during the block chords, and lets the piano ring when he rolls them. And I think Bach would have wanted it in this way. Gould does what Schiff always misses out on, the Bach pulse. The way that Bach can write a series of eighth notes or sixteenth notes, but you can still tap your feet to it. You can still feel the rhythm. When pianists are playing Bach on stage and you see their heads nod and shake the Bach pulse. Any good recording of any Bach piece should have the Bach pulse; it's what drives the music away from monotony. The block chord and rolled chord change maintains the pulse and keeps the introduction from becoming a race against how fast the pianist can finish this part up to get into the two part section. Schiff just rolls through with such speed and vigour, it breaks the pulse and the tension, just to feel incomplete at the start of the two part section. I hate to say it, but even Wim Winters plays the intro better than Schiff. At least he slows down (it's what he does best) and savours the chords, without rushing to play the next part. No, Winters doesn't vary his chords, but it's really saying something when clavichord playing, double beat crazy conspiracy guy Wim Winters sounds better than world-class pianist Schiff.
The two part or two voices section makes up one half of the rest of the sinfonia. Gould really shines through here. Disclaimer, this is definitely personal preference and I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with what I'm about to say but all of this goes back to what I believe good Bach playing should be. And that is to accentuate the Bach pulse. That being said, Gould does exactly that. He takes the two part section at a true Andante. Too many players take this section at a truly blazing speed which neither my ears or my fingers want to hear. It just doesn't contrast too well with the fugue in the next section. Having the tempo slower also helps us rock out to the pulse, which Gould brings out in his LH. Can you think of what it is? The bass line of course! I swear to Go(ul)d that no one but he actually makes the bass line sound like something. No stupid finger legato dragging the dance-like feel down to the ground, no soft touches with the left hand to really bring out the melody. No way. Gould plays with a balanced, staccato touch throughout the entire two part section and guess what? It sounds amazing. The melody is brought out, not because he decided to play the melody louder, but instead the bass accentuates the melody. More generally, the pulse accentuates the bass, which by bring it out. accentuates the melody. Its crisp and refreshing, both light and powerful. Quick apologies to all the harpsichord purists, but the two part stuff? Yeah, that sounds terrible on harpsicord. I'd rather not drag my feet through the mud of voice equality. I'm much more into voice equity that one can do on the piano.
That's the end of the rant. Gould sounds good. And it's going to take an excellent pianist that knows what he's doing to top this performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment