Bach works in mysterious ways. His music can tolerate very different
approaches: gentle or harsh, reserved or extravagant, philosophical or
energetic. They all might work if the performer puts a grain of soul into
it. If you like your Bach serious, with organ-like weight and attention to
detail, then you might well like the recording of the Partitas made by the
American pianist David Korevaar - a student of Earl Wild.
The overall approach here is sober and profound; the pianist does
not pace the clouds but the Earth, and his steps are large and heavy but
confident. While he does not have the transparency of, say, Angela Hewitt -
yet he can still really sing. There are microscopic divergences from the
tempo at times, and not all of them have apparent logical necessity.
Sometimes he slows down around the ornamentations, which are very
prominently articulated. It seems that he wants to pronounce every note -
show to us its beginning and its end. The result is that it makes things a
bit heavyweight. At times the pianist seems to concentrate unduly on the
pronunciation of the details and loses the main line under these
ornamentations. The dynamic range is also not too big - in fact
harpsichord-like. This, together with the heavy pace of the left hand and
the general evenness can make some episodes boring. More nuance would be
welcome, as some stretches sound devoid of emotion. We all know the notes:
we want to see them become alive. His Gigues are quite lively, though. The
Steinway sound is grand and percussive, which can be tiring during extended
listening.
Korevaar takes the
First Partita’s
Allemande
slowly. It is gallant but fanciful; the music loses lightness of tread and
tends to stumble. His
Sarabande sings, but is also a little stiff.
The
Menuets are elegant and not too jumpy. The
Giga suffers
from the harpsichord-like evenness of dynamics. In the
Second Partita
Korevaar strangely shifts the accents in the ornamentation and around them
in the
Grave introduction to the opening movement. This sounds
unusual and disturbing. In the ensuing
Andante he is expressive, but
his pace can be ponderous. The
Courante is unhurried and full-voiced;
one gets the feeling here that it evolved from gallant dances. The
Sarabande is slow and thoughtful, sometimes slowing down even more to
stress certain moments. The
Rondeaux is fast and expressive; this
speed does not always sound comfortable. The
Capriccio is again a bit
heavy, and again with microscopic braking in the densest places.
In the
Fourth Partita, the
Ouverture has organ-like
sound, and the load seems to be even overall: same amplitude, same weight;
it is wearisome. This is surely more the performer’s decision than
that of the recording engineer. The
Allemande is not easy to pull
off. If one adheres too strictly to the tempo of the original dance, it
strips the music of some of its musicality. Korevaar goes slow and
aria-like, and spreads it over ten minutes. For comparison, Hewitt does it
in 8:35, Feltsman does not linger more than 7:15. The separation of the near
and the far planes of vision is not very clear, and depth is lost. Different
themes and motifs are set out all on one level and so this movement sounds
endless. The
Third Partita is placed after the Fourth, which becomes
a recording tradition, probably for CD timing reasons but also for the
minor-major key rotation. The
Fantasia is slow to the point of
becoming almost unrecognizable. I understand that it can be played like
that, and I admit that sometimes a scene in slow motion is an important
trick in cinematography but I wouldn’t want to watch an entire movie
in slow motion. The music is still beautiful - Bach put masses of beauty
into it - but lacks drive; its effect is less powerful. In the
Corrente the left hand sounds too massive, which leads to an
impression of clutter. Korevaar’s approach works well in the more
tempestuous parts like the
Burlesca. It has untamed power, and the
extra weight is welcome there, though I think it would be even better with
less regular dynamics.
Tempo di Minuetto from the
Fifth Partita is always
problematic: the accents are shifted and the rhythm is strangely skewed. The
pianist can help the listener to navigate through it by the sensitive
application of accents. Korevaar does not do this and the movement becomes
uncomfortable. His
Toccata from the
Sixth is grand, expressive
and impressive but the
Corrente is rushed to the point of losing
stability. I guess it can work at such a fast tempo but then the touch
should be lighter otherwise it is just not beautiful anymore. I liked the
Sarabande: it is serious, spacious and creates the impression of a
great cathedral. I got this impression in more than one of Korevaar’s
movements, due to his solid and serious approach and to the organ-like sound
of the piano.
The recording is clear but rather close. This could in some measure be
responsible for the general uniform loudness of the recording. The booklet
contains a short essay by the pianist about the history of the creation of
the Partitas, the movements in the standard suite grouping and their
relation to the corresponding dances.
Overall, David Korevaar’s performance is grand but lacks
charm.
Oleg Ledeniov
