Arthur Villar is a young award-winning Brazilian-born pianist who has
been giving acclaimed performances of Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier
since 2008. Now having released his own recording of this work the hope
is of course that his playing will go out to wider audiences, and with
a nice
website and numerous
tracks from this release already to be sampled via YouTube, I’m sure
his performing career will go from strength to strength.
I’ve heard many a
Well-Tempered Clavier and there are only
a very few which have left me cold, or for that matter given me a cold.
Arthur Villar’s recording is one which has the immediate appeal of a
superb recording made on a fine sounding Steinway D, and I have to say
I was intrigued by this performance from the outset.
With so many versions of this music on the market, the temptation for
newcomers has to be to make a distinctive personal mark in their interpretation.
I doubt there is a pianist alive who would deny the startling effect
Glenn Gould had on our perceptions of Bach’s keyboard music, and there
are many who have adopted at least some of his stylistic characteristics
or who acknowledge his influence. Arthur Villar seems to be very much
his own man in steering a path away from any particular ‘school’ of
Bach performing, appearing to be occupied as far as possible with the
material in front of him and his own responses to it, rather than allowing
himself to be swayed by the turbulent winds of fashion. His playing
of Bach is not particularly dramatic, and unlike
Roger
Woodward sees
each prelude and fugue less as a mountainous emotional landscape to
be traversed, meeting challenges and holding and releasing tension like
the ropes of a heroic climber. I love Woodward’s Bach, but just as there
are many ways to climb a mountain, so there may be those who prefer
to take easier routes and enjoy the view.
Villar is lighter and takes his Bach without quite as much travail as
Woodward, and in terms of touch and reluctance to use the pedal he is
closer to
Angela
Hewitt, though in going back and comparing it is quite startling
to hear how romantic she is in terms of rubato. Hewitt’s approach yields
magical moments and her
Well-Tempered Clavier remains one of
my desert island choices, but I have to admit, when I returned to her
recording after some time with Villar the word ‘ham’ kept popping into
my mind.
Arthur Villar’s release comes with an informative booklet note on Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier by David Schulenberg, but Villar’s own
philosophy on the music remains something he has kept to himself. I
sense in his playing a search for purity, a return to Bach without imposed
musical expression which takes us away from the notes and towards the
player. This is something which I can only applaud, and the more I listen
and refer to other players the more I have come to appreciate the value
of such performing. I have no doubt there are those who would seek a
greater sense of excitement, of a pianist who ‘delivers’ more, but in
delivering Bach with simplicity and lack of adornment I have to say
this is a recording which strips away pretense and generates its own
expressive atmosphere. Just to avoid misunderstanding, Villar’s playing
is anything but plain. He has a fine legato, as you can hear in the
E minor
Prelude, as well as plenty of detailed articulation
as in the
Fugue which follows. He doesn’t go in for picky staccatos,
extremes of tempo, striking acoustic dramas of dynamic contrast or washy
halos of perfumed beauty, nor does he invent extra melodies through
accenting or elongating notes not marked as such in the scores. There
are some pieces in which his direct approach is less successful, and
the
Fugue in A minor is an example of one of the more lumpy
numbers in what is by and large a fine set. Nevertheless, Villar’s playing
is almost universally filled with quiet and natural sounding expression,
and a stylish and communicative projection of Bach’s lines and rhythms.
Yes, there are one or two very small technical blemishes which I feel
obliged to remark on. About that rhythmic security, there are a couple
of places at which you sense the technical gloss of perfection has rubbed
just a little thin. Nothing goes wrong as such, but the left/right hand
co-ordination can waver slightly here and there, such as in a moment
at 00:25/00:26 of the C minor
Prelude, and perhaps the evenness
at 0:53 in the C#
Prelude might be mentioned, or that mildly
edge-of-the seat feel around the torrent of notes in the G major
Prelude.
These are all observations on minor points which would probably go unnoticed
in many cases, but if I’m going to praise something to the skies I can’t
help balancing up with any possible negatives. With Villar’s ‘straight’
rhythmic approach it has to be said that he leaves himself nowhere to
hide, and with no stretching
rubati or extra expressive mannerisms
these slightest of human failings are always going to be more apparent.
This does have its down side in pieces which Bach clearly intended as
having a higher degree of fantasy and freedom, such as the
Prelude
in B flat major, which comes across as neither one thing or another
in this case. There are few technical aspects of this recording which
would prevent me from recommending it however, so let’s leave it at
that.
With Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier we have long gone beyond
the point of being able to hold up a single favourite recording, and
I think the best we can do is try and find where each new recording
might position itself in quite a thickly populated forest. Arthur Villar’s
recording is not at the top, but shines through the shrubbery for its
clarity of vision and honesty of approach. I can hear other critics
shouting out ‘boooring!’ on the strength of superficial listening, but
with attempts at timelessness you have to take a longer view, gathering
in detail as well as taking away a general impression. Of the pianists
I’ve plucked out for comparison one of those who Villar at times comes
closer to is András Schiff in his 1984 Decca recording, but here there
are also marked contrasts. Schiff is relatively anti-romantic, but goes
to greater lengths in shining spotlights on what he considers are important
lines, creating points of character through emphasised articulation
and at times extreme dynamic layering – all points which have served
to irritate me over the years, though I understand his later
ECM
version is the real deal. In this way I can pick out Arthur Villar
as a winner over at least one international superstar’s younger incarnation
– and that has to be recommendation enough.
Dominy Clements
