New ways update Bach's greatness

Francesco Tristano Schlimé and The New Bach Players give us an exhilarating, bracing view of the Bach keyboard concertos (including #7 with flutes), pristinely recorded live by the Polish firm Accord in the wonderful acoustics of the Arsenal in Metz, France. Performances are on modern instruments but without noticeable vibrato on the strings nor pedalling on the piano. Though these are indeed keyboard concertos, and Mr. Schlimé doubles as conductor and soloist, there is a sense of total ensemble integration. The musicianship and virtuosity of all, aided immensely by the placing of the strings (standing in semi-circle around the piano), the relatively intimate acoustics which though warm avoid intrusive reverberation, make all the musical lines meaningful and vivid. Indeed the scores come across both as linear and vertical progressions. It could easily have been Webern.

 

Mr. Schlimé is a pianist with a keen intellect and masterful technique. Always sensitive to the music, he creates colour without pedalling, discreetly injecting rubato when musically natural, and who ornaments without underlining, always with freshness and wit, indeed, deliciously without betraying context. In addition to Bach, he has recorded Berio, Prokofiev and Ravel, as well as his own improvisations. Liner notes indicate his interest in jazz. Though from Luxembourg, most of his education was at Julliard. The New Bach Players seem to be made up mostly of his New York schoolmates, which may explain the palpable ensemble rapport. Though unquestionably Mr. Schlimé is the leader and the whole enterprise seems to bear his stamp, liner notes indicate there is much give and take between him, concertmaster Aaron Brown and members of the ensemble which undoubtedly generate the enlightened, cohesive almost-chamber performances we have here. The net result of this enterprise is to recast Bach interpretation in ways that sound novel and very much of our age, at home not in gilded baroque rooms but in the likes of Bofill or Gehry spaces, incorporating significant aspects of "authentic" performance practice to contemporary forces. Bach lives through these performances and we are grateful for the fresh ways Schlimé and The New Bach Players make us hear these works.

 

These concerto recordings are worthy companions to those of Gould and Murray Perahia, different though those may be from these and each other. On a physical plane, the image that they keep evoking in my mind is taking a dive into a cold, translucently clear deep spring on a very sunny, very hot summer day. Bach is very much alive and well in the 21st century.

 

Perhaps indispensable and certainly worthy of wider distribution.

 

Ignacio Martinez-Ybor, 12 mai 2006, Miami, FL USA