Word: bachs
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Until recent years, if the name of Antonio Vivaldi (circa 1678-1740) appeared on a concert program at all, it was usually linked by a hyphen to the name of Bach, who transcribed a goodly number of Vivaldi's works. Little was known about Venetian Vivaldi himself. The main facts: 1) he was a red-haired priest who had to stop saying Mass because of his choking attacks of asthma, 2) he traveled all over Europe as a violinist, and 3) he was "feeble and sick, yet lively as gunfire...
Sensitive performances, however, especially by students, have become almost extinct. The tendency to interpret, rather than perform, Bach's music has resulted in streamlined superficiality on the one hand, and vitiating sentimentality on the other. But Joseph Ponte played with finesse and precision, as well as fidelity to the composer's intentions...
...certain rightness about his dynamics: no exaggeration, but enough variety to insure sustained interest. Sutble nuances, rather than violent contrasts, emphasized the logical relationship of the various sections. His tempi, relaxed and graceful without being slovenly, provided a welcome relief from the usual machine-like regularity that can make Bach's keyboard music sound like finger exercises...
...have equal time values in the score are not played equally. Determining the precise relationship of these "notes inegales" involved a great deal of research into the musical conventions of the Eighteenth Century. This investigation was more than musical pendantry. It enables us to hear the Clavierubung the way Bach wanted us to hear it. The question of which version is better must be left to the individual listener...
Except for some head-weaving and foot-stamping, the pianist kept himself well in the background. This was, indeed, a Bach recital, not a Ponte recital. Such a comment is only justified when a true artist has performed...