The Diversity Of Bach’s Music

Recently,Joan Sebastian Bach(1685-1750) is highly estimated among the international society,which considers that his music represents the peak of musical creation of the Baroque.Yet interpreting Bach’s music is different.There are some objective reasons for this.Firstly,during the Baroque(froml7th century to 18th century),the modern piano was just born and did not come to maturity.Besides, many modern piano skills and techniques didn’t appear yet.Secondly, the tablature at that time didn’t mature and there was no unitary provision for this.Composers also liked omitting grace notes. Thirdly,Bach published few compositions during his life.Most of his compositions were published after his death because of Mendelssohn’s promotion.And thus, there was seldom standard version for Bach’s music.On the other hand, there were some subjective reasons for Bach’s music interpretation diversity. The Baroque music are rich in ornament and improvisation. With the interpretation of different pianists and under the second creation of them,Bach music is necessarily reveals different features.This essay takes English Suite No.third (in G minor)by Bach for example,attempting to analyze the diversity of the song and the music of Bach from the four pianists’representative performance versions.This essay firstly briefly reviewed English Suite No.third (in G minor) and generally analyzes the six parts of the song. Secondly,based on the four pianists’ playing characteristics,ways of playing and the pianists’ gender, selecting Andras Schiff(CD No.LH2 421 640-2),Angela Hewitt,CD No.CDA67451/2,Glenn Grould(CD No.M2K 42268) and Sviatoslav Richter(CD No.Greathall 5601) to compare.This essay gives a brief introduction to the four versions.The third part is the focus of this essay,comparing the four versions in details.This essay compares the performances of English Suite from four aspects:the playing methods,speed,strength,grace notes and improvisation. The first part is to analyze the playing methods.Taking Vienna the original Gavotte 1-8 sections for example, Schiff’s performance adds his own grace notes,and thus is slightly decorative;Hewitt is fastidious about the overall melody and singing lines,and thus his performance is full of characteristics.Grould pays attention to granular and jumping;Richter is the most rigorous pianist.His performance is according to the original,not detached and not out of line.The second part is to analyze the speed.Fastidious about the granular and jumping,Grould plays fastest;Hewitt pays attention to the singing and his beat is free,and thus he plays slowest; Schiff slightly adds some grace notes and Richter is rigorous,and thus their playing speed is not fast and not slow.The third part is to analyze the strength.Taking the prelude for example, Grould’s playing strength is strong,and basically we can’t hear the strength of the line;Richter’s performance has the strongest intensity contrast;Hewitt also has a contrast, but most of his performance is the contrast of the strength of the phrases;Schiff’s performance is relatively flat.The fourth part is the comparative analysis of the grace notes and improvisation.Taking the original Vienna Sarabande 1-8 sections as example,Grould’s freedom is the largest and has the most jumping mood;Hewitt’s grace notes and improvisation perfectly express his singing characteristics; Schiff and Richter are more rigorous.They try to be faithful to the original.On the whole, Andras Schiff’s performance is strong in polyphony.His performance’s contrast is not great,and thus shows a courteous gentleman Bach; Angela Hewitt’s performance has strong singing characteristics and the high degree of freedom,and thus shows a moody poet Bach; Glenn Grould’s performance characteristics is fast speed and strong strength,and thus shows a passionate campaigner Bach;the performance of Sviatoslav Richter is played repeated integrity, rigorous and rational,and thus shows a quiet,peaceful and divine Bach.This essay tries to sum up the different characteristics of Bach’s music from the four pianists’ different performance versions,in order to make a theoretical guidance in better analysis and performance of Bach’s music to the piano learners.