The March 10 edition of CBC Radio 2 "In Concert" featured Canadian pianist
Angela Cheng playing a selection of Bach music, recorded recently in the National Gallery in Ottawa.
A familiar pair of Prelude & Fugue from the Well Tempered Clavier started the recital: the WTC book 1 C sharp Minor BWV 849. So, out of curiosity, we listened.
Nice inspiration Ms. Cheng, in particular, the dynamic contrast at bar 84 of the Fugue... Let me guess?
Here is a
YouTube link to the extract from my
Schnittke/Bach CD, of course never played on CBC Radio 2 (despite them having received copies when it was released in the fall 2008).
Imitation is a form of flattery, at least when it is informed.
During Bach's time, the harpsichord did not have the dynamic of a modern piano, therefore any change in dynamic would have to be "terrasse-like" (step by step) and not wavy crescendos and diminuendos.
Then, music was not looked at as art but belonged to mathematics and religion (Dictionary, Walther J.G., 1708); thus, the prelude cannot be a serenade, a romance as preludes were used to set the stage, usually a religious scene: it was about God first.
Finally, supreme irony, the musician who followed her on stage, Pinchas Zukerman, has had my CD since the NAC 2008 visit in Vancouver:
"...Just wanted to let you know that Pinchas and I both very much enjoyed [Svetlana's] playing. Thanks for forwarding it to us..."Amanda Forsyth, NAC Principal Cello, Ottawa, Canada on the Schnittke/Bach CD, January 2009.
Ah friends...
P.S.: That "
In Concert" program was repeated on July 21, 2013. To this day, since 2008, CBC Radio 2 never played the Schnittke/Bach CD including these Prelude and Fugue.
