Bach Reflections

Bach Reflections

Bach Reflections

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CD Details

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Composer: Dmitry Shostakovich
Composer: Franz Liszt
Performer: David Theodor Schmidt
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2007-11-20
Music Label: Profil - G Haenssler
Soundtracks:

Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (BC L6): Toccata
Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (BC L6): Allemanda
Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (BC L6): Corrente
Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (BC L6): Air
Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (BC L6): Sarabande
Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (BC L6): Tempo di Gavotta
Partita for keyboard No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 (BC L6): Gigue
Prelude and Fugue, for keyboard No. 22 in B flat minor (WTC II/22), BWV 891 (BC L125): Prelude
Prelude and Fugue, for keyboard No. 22 in B flat minor (WTC II/22), BWV 891 (BC L125): Fugue
Prelude & Fugue for piano No. 24 in D minor, Op. 87/24: Prelude. Andante
Prelude & Fugue for piano No. 24 in D minor, Op. 87/24: Fugue. Moderato

Music reviews of Bach Reflections

Music Review: Another Pianist's Entry into the Bach Sweepstakes
Rating: 3 Stars

And yet another young musician enters the fray with a recording of Bach on the piano. Actually, a little browsing on the Internet tells me that this is not young David Theodor Schmidt's first CD, nor his first of Bach. He recorded the Sixth English Suite and some Bach transcriptions on the little-known label Famiro to generally positive reviews. Born in Erlangen in 1982, Schmidt looks younger than his twenty-five years and I suspect his toyboy looks will win him some feminine hearts. Leaving that aside, however, he is also an excellent technician, with a light yet solid touch and generally good instincts about how the music on this CD should go. My only real quibble with the Bach Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830, is that he takes the Saraband at a very slow pace, mooning over it throughout. His general approach to the Partita is to try to bridge the gap between a romantic and a clinical approach. He applies tasteful and creative ornaments and steers a middle course between the staccato of Gould and the legato of Schiff. Actually I think I like his touch better than I do either of those venerables.

The Partita is followed by the twelfth Prelude and Fugue in B flat minor from the Second Book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. It is a very nearly satisfying traversal except for a slight tendency toward flatness of phrasing in what should be more nuanced passages, as in the opening of the Prelude. Schmidt plays the magnificent fugue without the last little bit of required understanding, almost as if playing the notes were enough. Throughout this and the rest of the disc Schmidt gets an utterly gorgeous tone from his well-regulated piano.

In keeping with the title of the CD -- Bach Reflections -- the CD concludes with two works overtly inspired by Bach's music: the Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, Op. 87, No. 24 from Shostakovich's tribute to Bach's 48, and Liszt's 'Variations on a motif by Bach (Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen)'. The dense and introverted Shostakovich is, in a word, boring in Schmidt's hands until he begins the buildup, in the final pages of the Fugue, to the exciting conclusion which he puts across brilliantly.

I have never heard a performance of Liszt's 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen' Variations that thrilled me, although Brendel came close. I suspect, frankly, that this is a fault of mine, or perhaps Liszt's, but not of any pianist. In any event, Schmidt's playing of this seventeen-minute work is probably all one could ask for (if one already loved the piece) and his tone is invariably luxurious.

In summary, David Theodor Schmidt seems to be an immensely talented but musically somewhat callow pianist who probably will mature into a significant career. Meanwhile, this disc is very much a mixed bag.

Scott Morrison

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