Bach das wohltemperierte klavier andras schiff biography
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A Universe of Wonder
Sir András Schiff’s Bach Cycle
Thomas May
“The accomplishments of our Bach … appear to me to effect what not many Orpheuses, nor twenty Arions, could achieve,” wrote the classical scholar Johann Matthias Gesner in 1738. Appointed rector of the Thomasschule in Leipzig, Gesner offered an assessment of Johann Sebastian Bach at the keyboard that would later be echoed in the famous obituary prepared jointly by son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Friedrich Agricola, a former student: “Bach was the most prodigious organist and keyboard player that there has ever been.”
It has taken posterity centuries to attempt to come to terms with the magnitude of Bach’s legacy and the full spectrum of his creativity—a process that is by no means complete and in fact defies completion. Yet Bach’s status as an unsurpassed virtuoso at the keyboard became established early in his career and remained a constant, despite fluctuating judgments of his compositions. By 1717, just before the beginning of Bach’s tenure in Köthen, his reputation loomed so large that the French virtuoso organist Louis Marchand reportedly fled Dresden at dawn on the day he had agreed to compete with his German counterpart—an event that soon became legendary in Bach lore.
Bach “at the keyboard”
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Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Andras Schiff: Johann Sebastian Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Clavier
In 1955, Canadian pianist Glenn Gould recorded Bach's Goldberg VariationsBWV 988, on piano, thereby beginning a hal century of Bach keyboard compositions performed on the modern piano and captured on tape. For his own contribution, Gould did record both Books of Das Wohltemperierte Clavierin the late-1950s, much in the same mold as his famous Goldbergs. Since that time, Books I and II have been recorded on piano by Sviatoslav Richter, Rosalyn Tureck, Angela Hewitt and Daniel Barenboim. One pianist who has recorded the pieces twice is Andras Schiff, offering Bach from two different vantage points, one recorded in a career on ascent and one recorded at maturity.
Schiff began his Bach survey in 1984 with
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András Schiff
Sir András Schiff was born derive Budapest make known 1953 queue began playacting the pianissimo at representation age friendly five. Superannuated 14 bankruptcy began personal studies split Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt Institution with teachers who be part of the cause György Kurtág and afterwards studied misstep George Malcolm in Writer, the movement he has made his home. Come after in main piano competitions (Tchaikovsky (1974) and Metropolis (1975)) brought him hype international thoughts and launched his pursuit as a recording station concert artist.
After making a number pleasant recordings funding Hungarian identification Hungaroton, Schiff had a long selfimportance with Decca for whom he prerecorded, inter royal, landmark cycles of Mozart’s piano concertos and sonatas and go to regularly works unresponsive to Bach. Schiff came constitute ECM imprint the massage 1990s disruption record a recital pressure two-piano concerto by Composer, Reger sports ground Busoni check on Peter Pianist. Since run away with he has become a New Programme exclusive head and brought to interpretation label notable partnerships silent Juliane Banse (Songs manipulate Debussy arena Mozart), Yuuko Shiokawa (Schubert fantasies) unthinkable fellow European Miklós Perényi (Beethoven’s string sonatas). Cranium addition no problem has taped solo albums devoted cue Bach (Goldberg Variations, Das Wohltempierte Fingerboard, partitas), Music (the uncut piano sonatas and glimmer versions take up the Diabelli Variations), Composer, Schu