CD Reviews

Crescendo Felix von Freuden | December 2007 – January 2008

David Theodor Schmidt
Bach and what came after
Confident and ingenious.

Especially young pianists take on Bach rather often, possibly because it gives them a good opportunity to explore freedom of interpretation within the strict form. Probably there is no easier way of making oneself known as a rebel of piano music than by playing Bach against the grain. But, fortunately, David Theodor Schmidt does not approach the music like this at all. On the contrary: It is enjoyable, how he simply just plays his Bach. To the listener, whole worlds unfold themselves through this supposedly simple approach. Schmidt does not force anything, never hesitates, but just lets go and therefore trusts Bach like no young pianist has done in a long time. His personal statement is made at the end of the CD when he performs Shostakovich’s "Prelude and Fugue in D Minor" and Liszt’s "Variations on a motif by Bach" after Bach’s "Partita No. 6 " and thereby meaningfully emphasizes Bach’s place in the history of music.

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