This week, I'm within striking distance of Aix-en-Provence, and went to a superb concert 2 nights ago. Intriguing programme: extracts from the Bach 48 played on harpsichord by Andreas Staier, and from the Shostakovich 24 played by Alexander Melnikov.
Olli Mustonen has recorded them side-by-side, but playing piano for both. I have vol 1, but rarely listen to it: I find his playing irritatigly perverse, with articulations & dynamics at odds with those clearly marked in DSCH's score. Staier & Melnikov were abslutely fine in this respect - but it's perhaps not surprising that in a big hall (and Aix's modern Grand Theatre de Provence is big) the harpsichord, especially when using just one 8', sounded very tiny. The ear did focus after a while, but it was initially disconcerting.
They were both on stage all the time, and attempted to play without breaks for applause (the audience slowly got the message...). Ist half: 2 JSB p&fs, 3 DSCH, 2 JSB. And the pattern reversed in the second half.
Staier was, as I'd expected, nicely stylish: a certain amount of ornamentation, flexible phrasing. Melnikov was the star for me, though. I know, and love, his Beethoven Vln Sonatas with Faust, but hadn't heard his Shostakovich, which I'm imediately buying when I get home! Definitely a hearing-anew feeling (but not in the Mustonen manner): lots more flexibility in tempo in the preludes (and sometimes in the fugues) than I'm used to hearing (I've got Ashkenazy, that Naxos chappie, and DSCH himself (incomplete, of course) at home). Superb variety of touch, moments of extraordinary delicacy (A major). The big Db p&f, already a quirky piece, sounded gloriously outrageous. Magnificent.
Nice first encore: Staier played the Bach Fmi hpd concerto slow mvt on the bottom 8': Melnikov, standing behind & reaching round both sides, played the string parts on the upper 8' muted.
Sorry this is at such length, with no listen-again feature. Though actually France-Musique was broadcasting it direct: the site seems to suggest it's listenable in the archives, bu I can't find it. THose of you who know your way around the Fr-M site, and with a better computer than I've got in this apartment, might like to try: it's well worth hearing.
Olli Mustonen has recorded them side-by-side, but playing piano for both. I have vol 1, but rarely listen to it: I find his playing irritatigly perverse, with articulations & dynamics at odds with those clearly marked in DSCH's score. Staier & Melnikov were abslutely fine in this respect - but it's perhaps not surprising that in a big hall (and Aix's modern Grand Theatre de Provence is big) the harpsichord, especially when using just one 8', sounded very tiny. The ear did focus after a while, but it was initially disconcerting.
They were both on stage all the time, and attempted to play without breaks for applause (the audience slowly got the message...). Ist half: 2 JSB p&fs, 3 DSCH, 2 JSB. And the pattern reversed in the second half.
Staier was, as I'd expected, nicely stylish: a certain amount of ornamentation, flexible phrasing. Melnikov was the star for me, though. I know, and love, his Beethoven Vln Sonatas with Faust, but hadn't heard his Shostakovich, which I'm imediately buying when I get home! Definitely a hearing-anew feeling (but not in the Mustonen manner): lots more flexibility in tempo in the preludes (and sometimes in the fugues) than I'm used to hearing (I've got Ashkenazy, that Naxos chappie, and DSCH himself (incomplete, of course) at home). Superb variety of touch, moments of extraordinary delicacy (A major). The big Db p&f, already a quirky piece, sounded gloriously outrageous. Magnificent.
Nice first encore: Staier played the Bach Fmi hpd concerto slow mvt on the bottom 8': Melnikov, standing behind & reaching round both sides, played the string parts on the upper 8' muted.
Sorry this is at such length, with no listen-again feature. Though actually France-Musique was broadcasting it direct: the site seems to suggest it's listenable in the archives, bu I can't find it. THose of you who know your way around the Fr-M site, and with a better computer than I've got in this apartment, might like to try: it's well worth hearing.
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