Aimard’s Bach in Lights
Pierre-Laurent Aimard again conquers the iconic keyboard repertoire by Johann Sebastian Bach after his hugely successful The Art of Fugue recording 2008. A recently released double CD includes the entire The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1.
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As part of a multimedia project that had never before been attempted, visual artist Alan Warburton created a virtual animation that highlighted not only Bach’s genius but also Warburton’s own creativity. He joined with French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and a veritable army of computer and music experts to create a stunning visual portrait of one of Bach’s most iconic works. It took more than 10 weeks to bring the project to fruition because every frame of the video had to be perfectly synchronized with Aimard’s playing and also make visual sense. There could be no weird reflections of light that wouldn’t occur in nature, for example, and anything less than visual perfection wouldn’t do justice to the music.
Piano sheet music to download and print:
Hear samples from all tracks on the album and read more:
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4792784
How do you like Aimard’s intrepretation of the Bach Preludes and Fugues? Please post a comment below!
Comments
Nice video! I listened a bit on the samples from the album and like it a lot. Quite nice to be able to only hear 30 seconds of each, since otherwise it takes forever to listen throught the album!
The e-flat minor prelude is very beatifully played and most of the other pieces are also played very expressively with interesting articulation and dynamics. Not very similar to any of the other I have Heard, Schiff, Gould, Hewitt and Richter.
This is wonderful on so many levels that it’s almost impossible to put into words. But I have two quick questions (well one quick, one perhaps not so quick). From the way the article was written, I had the impression that all 24 preludes and fugues from Book I have been animated, but am I right in thinking it’s just the first one?
Secondly, I note that Aimard has only recorded Book I. Perhaps Book II is to follow, but in the meantime, has anyone noticed how much more popular Book I is than Book II? It seems to me, from listening to radio broadcasts and concert performances over 30+ years, that the pieces in Book I are played at least ten times as often as those in Book II. In fact, apart from complete performances of the entire collection, and very occasional performances of the prelude in F minor from Book II, I can’t recall the last time I heard ANY piece from Book II being played. Has anyone else had the same experience?
This is truly a contrapuntal video! Such a wonderful and educational concept. Congratulations to the originator.
Love the video! A great visual for teachers and students.