Composer: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johannes Brahms, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel
Performer: Daniil Trifonov
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalogue: 4838530
Release: 2021
Size: 2.18 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Bach JC: Harpsichord Sonata, Op. 17 No. 5
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Presto
Bach WF: Twelve Polonaises, F. 12
03. No. 8 in E Minor
Bach CPE: Clavier‐Sonaten und freie Fantasien nebst einigen Rondos, Wq59
04. IV. Rondo in C Minor, H. 283
Bach JCF: Variations on “Ah vous dirais-je, Maman,” HW 12 no 2
05. Thema (Allegretto)
06. Var. 1
07. Var. 2
08. Var. 3
09. Var. 4 (Minore)
10. Var. 5 (Maggiore)
11. Var. 6 (Tempo di Minuetto)
12. Var. 7
13. Var. 8 (Schwäbisch, Non allegro)
14. Var. 9 (Minore, Tranquillo)
15. Var. 10 (Maggiore, Tempo I)
16. Var. 11
17. Var. 12 (Alla Siciliano)
18. Var. 13
19. Var. 14
20. Var. 15 (Più andante)
21. Var. 16 (Tempo I)
22. Var. 17 (Minore)
23. Var. 18 (Maggiore, Allegro)
24. Bach JS: Musette in D major, BWV Anh. 126
25. Bach JS: Gedenke doch, mein Geist, BWV509
26. Bach JS: Menuett in A minor, BWV Anh. II / 120
27. Bach JS: Minuet in F major, BWV Anh. 113
28. Bach JS: Polonaise in F major, BWV Anh. 117a
29. Bach JS: Polonaise in D minor, BWV Anh. II / 128
30. Bach JS: Gib dich zufrieden, BWV511
31. Bach JS: Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114
32. Bach JS: Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 116
33. Bach JS: Polonaise in G minor, BWV Anh. 125
34. Bach JS: Menuett in C minor, BWV Anh. II / 121
35. Stölzel: Bist du bei mir
36. Brahms: Studies, Anh.1a / 1: Chaconne von JS Bach
Bach JS: The Art of Fugue, BWV1080
37. Contrapunctus 1
38. Contrapunctus 2
39. Contrapunctus 3
40. Contrapunctus 4
41. Contrapunctus 5
42. Contrapunctus 6 [per Diminutionem] in Stylo Francese
43. Contrapunctus 7 per Augmentationem et Diminutionem
44. Contrapunctus 8
45. Contrapunctus 9 alla Duodecima
46. Contrapunctus 10 alla Decima
47. Contrapunctus 11
48. Contrapunctus [12] [rectus]
49. Contrapunctus 12 inversus
50. Contrapunctus [13] [rectus]
51. Contrapunctus [13] inversus
52. Canon [in Hypodiatessaron] per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu
53. Canon in Hypodiapason (Canon alla Ottava)
54. Canon alla Decima in Contrapunto alla Terza
55. Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quinta
56. [Contrapunctus 14] (Compl. by Daniil Trifonov)
Bach JS: Cantata BWV147 ‘Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben’
57. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Transcr. Hess for Piano)
“This album is, in many ways, about love: the romantic love between husband and wife; familial love between parents and their children; and love for the Creator.”
Daniil Trifonov’s new album, Bach: The Art of Life, explores the scientific, emotional and spiritual fibre of Bach’s work. The exceptional Russian pianist, famous for his romantic interpretations of Rachmaninoff and Chopin, now extends his recording palette to Baroque piano music and presents an incredibly spiritual programme for Deutsche Grammophon based around Bach and his sons.
The centrepiece of the album is The Art of Fugue, one of Bach’s late masterpieces written in the last ten years of his life. In the early and mid-eighteenth century – and thus before the Enlightenment – music, like other scientific disciplines, was seen as a means of expression to explain the laws of nature and thus the will of God. Consequently, the polyphonic construction of the work was a central means for the composer to musically interpret his environment. According to Trifonov, the highly spiritual character of the piece represents ‘the pioneering musical realisation of Bach’s personal, religious, scientific and humanistic knowledge’.
However, it is not only Bach, but also many of his descendants who make up the strength of this unique programme. Collective musical practice was an integral part of the Bach family’s daily life, with each child developing his or her own style. The booklet of notes for Anna Magdalena Bach, compiled by Bach himself, summarises these personal and intimate family studies on paper, which Trifonov complements with Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach’s “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman” (Ah, shall I tell you, Mama) variations, as well as works by Johann Christian, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel, among others.
Trifonov, an exceptional virtuoso, succeeds in doing justice to polyphonic music with his great technical precision and total artistic commitment. His sensitive and profound understanding of Bach’s philosophy and compositions is a wonderful setting for this comprehensive overview of the composer’s life and musical legacy, which the performer generously offers to his listeners.