12 aprile 2021 ore 20:30

Intorno al Preludio: Andrea Bacchetti

• Johann Sebastian Bach
  Il clavicembalo ben temperato – Libro II, BWV 870 – 893

Bach gave the title Das Wohltemperirte Clavier to a book of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, dated 1722, composed “for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study”. Some 20 years later Bach compiled Book 2 completed in 1742,which was intended as a complement to Book 1. It is generally far more difficult than Book 1, with greater technical and structural difficulty for the performer. It was the ultimate workbook, open to constant change and refining by Bach himself.

Genius at work indeed in Genoa tonight.
130 minutes of total concentration and music of a crystalline clarity but with a sense of colour and character that kept this imaginary audience spellbound from the first to the last of the second book of the Wohltemperirte Clavier.
Bach had infact indicated that they were composed ‘for the profit of musical youth desirous of learning and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study’.
Busoni famously said the first book were for performers and the second for composers.
In fact the second book in much longer and more complex but this did not deter Andrea Bacchetti ,despite admitting his fear at such a daunting task ,from giving a note perfect performance.
Without the score in a completely empty hall with just the camera watching and listening to his every move.
I have known and admired Bacchetti for many years.He even gave a noble performance of the Goldberg Variations in the Ghione theatre ,fifteen years ago,where Nikolaeva and Tureck had trod before him.

But I was not expecting a performance of such authority and distilled genius as he offered today to the glory of the Universal genius that is Johann Sebastian Bach.
From the very first noble notes of the C major prelude through a world of musical wisdom and experience with the sheer beauty of the C sharp major prelude or the jagged edges of the F major Fugue.His highly original reading of the F minor prelude contrasting with its bucolic fugue.The complexity of the F sharp minor fugue contrasting with the mellifluous G major prelude or the decisiveness of the G minor fugue.The B minor prelude played much more flowingly than I remember Gulda in tennis cap staring at us as he teased the rhythm out of this beguiling prelude.The nobility of the D major prelude and the wonderful colouring of the fugue was followed by the refined rhythmic buoyancy of the D minor prelude with it’s long unwinding three part fugue.The beautiful pastoral flow of the E flat prelude leading to the aristocratic shaping of the fugue.The mellifluous E major giving way to the solemn immensely complex four part fugue.The luminosity he brought to the F sharp prelude contrasted with the extreme complexity of the fugue played with an amazing clarity and control.The gaiety of the dance in the G sharp minor prelude only highlighted the extreme chromaticism of the fugue.The all too brief florid line in A major contrasted with the operatic double counterpoint of the A minor prelude before the rhythmic urgency of the fugue.The mellifluous B flat prelude and fugue just flowed so naturally from his hands as we arrive at the serenity of B flat minor and the extreme complexity of the four part fugue.The final B minor I have mentioned above but I see the words of Ebenezer Prout written in my score by my teacher Sidney Harrison:’pray unto the lord my God re – member ever more to sing his praises ‘ and the fugue ‘and we shall go forth passing through the mountains and valleys that be on the way to heav’n’.How apt they are today as Bacchetti had taken us on a long multi faceted voyage of discovery.(I remember visiting Angela Hewitt in the interval of one of her Bach recitals at La Pergola in Florence and asking her if she knew about Ebenezer Prout- we had both been introduced to each other in our youth by Sidney Harrison.She not only knew them but began singing them at full voice until they came to ask her to continue the second part of her recital!)

But Bacchetti has such a refreshing way of looking at the music with his highly original intellect that allows the music to flow so naturally from his fingers.
And what fingers they are !
Hardly using the sustaining pedal as his finger legato and sense of balance were of such transcendental control that one was hardly aware of it except that his clarity and precision were of almost superhuman prowess.
The immensely complex B flat minor prelude and fugue, after two hours of playing,showed no sign of fatigue or strain and the simplicity of the final B minor was so refreshing coming as it does like a breath of fresh air after the most dense and intense air that Bach shares with us in his long journey of genial inspiration.

Born in 1977, Andrea Bacchetti had from a very early age received advice from musicians such as Karajan, Magaloff, Berio, Horszowski .At the age of eleven, he made his debut with I Solisti Veneti, conducted by Claudio Scimone.
From then on, he has has played in international festivals all over the world as Lucerne, Salisbury, Belgrade, Santander, Toulouse (Piano aux Jacobins), Lugano, Sapporo, Brescia and Bergamo, Bologna, Rome (Uto Ughi for Rome), La Roque d’Anthéron, Milan (MI.TO), La Coruña (Festival Mozart), Pesaro, Cervo, Martina Franca (Valle d’Itria Festival) Bellinzona,Ravenna, Ravello, Santiago de Compostela (A. Brage piano cycle), Warsaw (Beethoven Festival), Paris (La Serre d’Auteil), Bad Wörishofen, Spoleto, Husum, Murten Classics.
He has also performed in : Konzerthaus (Berlin); Salle Pleyel, Salle Gaveu cycle Piano 4 (Paris); Rudolfinum Dvorak Hall (Prague); Teatro Coliseo (Buenos Aires); Rachmaninoff Saal, The Moscow State Philharmonic Society (Moscow), IBK Concert Hall Arts Center (Seoul); Auditorium Nacional de España (cycle of Scherzo and CNDM), Teatro Real, Fundación March (Madrid); Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisboa); Toppan Hall, Hamarikyu Asahi Halland Musashino Concert Hall (Tokyo), De Warande (Antwerp); Sociedad Filarmonica (Lima), Fundación Filarmonica (Quito), Huelecourt Art Project, (Bruxelles); Mozarteum Brasileiro e Cultura Artistica (São Paulo); Hyogo Performing Arts Center (Osaka), Philia Hall, (Yokohama), Parco della Musica (Rome);Zentrum Paul Klee (Bern); Gewandhaus (Leipzig).
He has played with many orchestras including Lucerne Festival Strings, Camerata Salzburg and Salzburg Chamber Soloists, RTVE Madrid, Sinfónica de Asturia, Oviedo, OSCYL, Valladolid; MDR Leipzig, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Sinfónica de Tenerife, Filarmonica della Scala (Milan), OSNR Turin, Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, RTL Lubiana, Cappella Istropolitana, Bratislava, MAV Budapest, Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonique de Nice et de Cannes, Prague Chamber Orchestra, ORF Wien, Toscanini Philharmonic of Parma, Philarmonie der Nationen (Hamburg), Enesco Philharmonic (Bucharest); with many conductors as Bellugi, Guidarini, Venzago, Luisi, Zedda, Manacorda, Panni, Burybayev, Pehlivanian, Gullberg Jensen, Nanut, Lü Jia, Justus Frantz, Baumgartner, Valdes, Renes, Bender, Bisanti, Ceccato, Chung amongst others.
Currently he records exclusively for Sony Classical. His discography includes :SACD with the “6 Sonatas” by Cherubini (Penguin Guide UK, Rosette 2010), “The Scarlatti Restored Manuscript” (RCA Red Seal) that received an ICMA award in the Baroque Instrumental CD category in 2014; his Bach recordings include the “Two-Part Inventions & Sinfonias” (CD of the month for BBC Music Magazine – September 2009), “The Italian Bach” (CD of the month for The Record Geijutsu – May 2014) and the Keyboard Concertos BWV 1052 – 1058 with the ONR Rai National Orchestra (CD of the month for Musica, May 2016).
He is an assiduous chamber music player playing with artists such as Filippini, Larrieu, Prazak Quartet, Uto Ughi, Quatuor Ysaye, Cremona Quartet, String Quartet of La Scala.Composers such as Vacchi, Boccadoro, Del Corno, amongst others, have dedicated works to him.

Ancora giovanissimo, Andrea Bacchetti raccoglie consigli da Karajan, Magaloff e Berio.
Debutta ad 11 anni con i Solisti Veneti in Sala Verdi a Milano.
Da allora suona nei maggiori festival internazionali e si è esibito in prestigiosi centri musicali.
Andrea Bacchetti è ospite in Italia e all’estero delle maggiori orchestre e delle più importanti associazioni concertistiche.
Fra la sua discografia è da ricordare il SACD con le sonate di Cherubini (Rosette Penguin Guide UK), The Scarlatti Restored Manuscript (vincitore dell’ICMA nella categoria Baroque Instrumental); di Bach, Invenzioni e Sinfonie (CD del mese BBC Music Magazine), The Italian Bach (Cd del mese Record Geijutsu); i concerti per tastiera di Bach alla guida dell’Orchestra Nazionale della RAI, premiato con 5 stelle dalla rivista MUSICA, Goldberg Variations (CD del mese delle riviste Pizzicato e Fonoforum).
Nella musica da camera proficue sono state le collaborazioni con Rocco Filippini, il Prazak Quartet, il Quatuor Ysaye, il Quartetto di Cremona, Uto Ughi, Maxence Larrieu e Antonella Ruggero.