Boooooo, Bach

Songs Without Words; Murray Perahia, piano

I am not a fan of the music of J.S. Bach. It’s nothing personal. Herr Bach never did anything to offend or harm me in any way. In fact, I honor him as one of the greatest composers who ever lived. The consistently high level of quality in his output declares a super-genius, the likes of which we may never see again.

Many would brand me as blasphemous. The idea of a full-blooded Scandinavian Lutheran distancing himself from the Baroque period’s quintessential Minister of Music only four or five generations apart from Old Man Luther himself … It’s outrageous. Yeah, I guess so.

Herr Bach’s mind and my mind are incompatible. J.S. thinks linearly, stacking multiple melodic lines that sound simultaneously. I’m used to a series of chords, all lined up like dominoes, with one melody line lying across the top.

Murray Perahia plays a series of four Bach organ and chorale preludes that have received treatment from the great Italian pianist and scholar Ferruccio Busoni. He Romanticized Bach. It still sounds like Bach; except that it seems like he’s having a little more fun.

Mr. Perahia also plays a series of "Songs Without Words" by Felix Mendelssohn and some songs by Franz Schubert transcribed for solo piano by Franz Liszt. I’ve always enjoyed this recording by Mr. Perahia. I’m sorry there’s no story today.

Credits: To Martin Luther, for his promise to St. Anne and for “Ein’ Feste Burg”. “Here I stand. I can do no other.” How much more inspirational can you get?