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Pierre-Laurend Aimard - the Well-Tempered Clavier: Music box, 18th and 25th August
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We will enchant our ears with Bach - an album which was broadcast on Radio Romania Music on the day of its release, 18th August: the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the French pianist Pierre Laurent Aimard, the same who, in 2008, had a tremendous success with another of Bach's works, the Art of Fugue.
Deutsche Grammophon offered the press an audio material which contained some of Pierre Laurent Aimard's thoughts on this album:
'I am happy to share with you some of the impressions about certain preludes and fugues of this cycle beyond compare. The most impressive thing I've found in all these years since I fell in love with this kind of music is the fact that you never get bored of it; it is really exceptional. I also think that this happens because of the extraordinary richness of these works; they always bring something new. I have chosen to offer you my own way of performing this music, but I am sure that there are many others.'
Pierre Laurent really does have his own way of interpreting Johann Sebastian Bach's music. He gave me a feeling that I could hardly explain - it was as if everything merged into something bigger than us and yet it had a certain connection with our concrete and contemporary present; maybe because Bach's music stands somewhere between God and mankind.
Recording the 24 preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, was a genuine tour de force. If it is still worth mentioning, I would like to say that the Well-Tempered Clavier is a collection of 48 preludes and fugues written by Bach for didactic purposes, comprising two books dated 1722 and 1742. Beyond the didactic purpose - namely training harpsichordists, pianists, in fact, because only the piano is well-tempered - Bach managed to create a work which shines through its contrapuntal art and which was studied by all the composers that followed after him. So, performing the Well-Tempered Clavier is a touchstone for all the great pianists, I think, and a peak that Pierre Laurent reaches and preserves as a touch of the harpsichord technique in the version he offers us.
The Bach album, signed by Pierre-Laurent Aimardis, is included in the 'Vote for the Best Classical Album of 2014' campaign. The first twelve preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 can be listened to on Radio Romania Music on Monday, 18th August, from 19:00 , during the Music Box programme and the repeats are scheduled on Sunday, 24th August, from 13:20. The last twelve preludes and fugues are broadcast during the same programme on Monday, 25th August, at 19:00; the repeats are scheduled on Sunday, 31st August, from 13:20.
Translated by Georgiana Ursu, Izabela–Elvira Vațe and Elena Daniela Radu
MTTLC, the University of Bucharest