Nano Note:
Bach in Order II
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
The outer limits of classical-music geekery, I expect, but not an unpopulated place. Learning to live with and love the classics on iPod playlists. Where you can plan ahead.
I’ve just, for the first time, reproduced a playlist work for work, but with completely different performers. Here was the first Bach in Order playlist, in which English Suites, French Suites, Cello Suites and Partitas were sandwiched between concerti grossi from Corelli’s Opus 6. (If I find something to insert between the pairs of cgi at the “intermissions,” I’ll be in heaven.)
- Corelli: Trevor Pinnock and his band.
- English Suites: András Schiff.
- French Suites: Keith Jarrett.
- Cello Suites: Yo-Yo Ma.
- Partitas: Angela Hewitt.
And now, for the second round:
- Corelli: Ensemble 415.
- English Suites: Angela Hewitt.
- French Suites: Andrew Rangell.
- Cello Suites: Pierre Fournier.
- Partitas: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
When I saw that I had another set of Opus 6 (Sigiswald Kuijkin’s), and Angela Hewitt’s French Suites just lying around, I went ahead and ordered Lynn Harrell’s Cello Suites, Robert Levin’s English Suites, and András Schiff’s Partitas. Bach in Order III, coming up!
This is the sort of thing that was too cumbersome to imagine in the age of the LP. Or even with tapes. Hours’ worth of music, all familiar as hell, but all played by different people — and that’s, of course, what you notice. The performances stand out over the music itself, in a simply palpable way that’s, strangely, new.
And my choices, I hasten to confess, are as conservative as all get-out. That’s why there’s no Glenn Gould! (Yet!) I’ve just put in for Casals and Starker.