{"id":37,"date":"2010-03-15T15:32:31","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T15:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\/2010\/03\/15\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\/"},"modified":"2011-01-18T22:23:22","modified_gmt":"2011-01-18T22:23:22","slug":"on-bach-to-shostakovich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/15\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\/","title":{"rendered":"On Bach to Shostakovich"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Bach and Shostakovich<\/span><\/p>\n

About 15 years ago I discovered Shostakovich\u2019s preludes and fugues for piano.\u00a0 The story goes that he was a judge at a Bach piano competition and heard Tatanya Nickolyova playing the Bach preludes and fugues.\u00a0 He was so taken by her playing of Bach\u2019s masterpieces that he set about writing a set of 24 preludes and fugues of his own for her to play.\u00a0 There is a recording of her playing these pieces which is amazing to hear, but there is also a recording of Keith Jarrett, better known for his jazz improvisations, playing these pieces that is quite mind-blowing.<\/p>\n

It was Keith Jarrett\u2019s playing that made me determined to learn some of the harder preludes and fugues, and I jumped in with both feet, attempting to learn the trickiest ones I could find.\u00a0 I failed.\u00a0 I realised my technique was simply not up to the delicate finger work required by the writing, and I wondered why that was.\u00a0 I soon realised that years of playing Chopin and Rachmaninoff had rendered my left hand incapable of playing anything delicate and accurate.\u00a0 A comment made by my violin teacher at University came to my mind, \u201cYou should learn some Bach\u201d.<\/p>\n

It seemed fitting really to start with Bach, as he had been the inspiration for Shostakovich.\u00a0 I duly purchased the Bach Well Tempered Clavier which is his set of Preludes and Fugues.\u00a0 I dived in and learned a few of the easier pieces without too much difficulty.\u00a0 Then I tried some of the more complex fugues.\u00a0 I was lost.\u00a0 I decided to learn the preludes and fugues from Book 2 in order so as not to avoid anything I felt I found too hard.<\/p>\n

15 years later and I am on number\u00a0 17 of 24.\u00a0 Admittedly there have been large gaps due to children, laziness, life in general, but I am far from disheartened.\u00a0 In fact the only concern I have is whether I have enough life to complete this task and move on! At the present rate it will be another 7 years to the end of Book 2, but what about Book 1?<\/p>\n

I feel as though I am still heading back towards Shostakovich, but I had no idea of the wonder, beauty and intelligence of Bach.\u00a0 I am totally involved in his music, his treatment of line and form, his experimentation and his lyricism.\u00a0 Bach for me is to played in the morning, as a meditation, a tonic, an escape from an unstructured world into one who\u2019s structure is the world.<\/p>\n

I thought I was going to move on from Bach, through Scarlatti, Mozart, Schubert and eventually back to Shostakovich.\u00a0 Instead I am happily ensconced.\u00a0 I have no need to move on for I feel I am learning all\u00a0 need to know here.\u00a0 I have barely played the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues since, except for sometimes while teaching.\u00a0 They wait for me, waiting until I am mature enough, accomplished enough, knowledgeable enough to play them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Bach and Shostakovich About 15 years ago I discovered Shostakovich\u2019s preludes and fugues for piano.\u00a0 The story goes that he was a judge at a Bach piano competition and heard Tatanya Nickolyova playing the Bach preludes and fugues.\u00a0 He … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Bach to Shostakovich - Joe Samuel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/15\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Bach to Shostakovich - Joe Samuel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Bach and Shostakovich About 15 years ago I discovered Shostakovich\u2019s preludes and fugues for piano.\u00a0 The story goes that he was a judge at a Bach piano competition and heard Tatanya Nickolyova playing the Bach preludes and fugues.\u00a0 He … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/15\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Joe Samuel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-15T15:32:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-01-18T22:23:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\\\/wordpress\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/15\\\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\\\/wordpress\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/15\\\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\\\/wordpress\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e1806a53ef7e6f4203451c9e6aad457\"},\"headline\":\"On Bach to Shostakovich\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-15T15:32:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-01-18T22:23:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\\\/wordpress\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/15\\\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":500,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"music\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\\\/wordpress\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/15\\\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\\\/wordpress\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/15\\\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.joesamuel.co.uk\\\/wordpress\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/15\\\/on-bach-to-shostakovich\\\/\",\"name\":\"On Bach to Shostakovich - 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