CD Reviews

Rondo | Tom Persich | Issue 6/07

Classical – David Theodor Schmidt with »Bach Reflections«

BACH, SHOSTAKOVICH, LISZT
WORKS FOR PIANO

Schmidt
Hänssler Profil/Naxos 07071
(66 Min., recorded 2 and 3/2007)

We don’t like that name. “Bach Reflections.” It sounds somewhat too candied and pretentious. Why not just: “Bach, Shostakovich, Liszt”? That’s enough! Or at least ”Bach and the masterworks that followed”? But enough grousing. These days, design and content often go their separate ways. And after listening to what this recording has to offer, there’s nothing for the listener to say but: Chapeau! Here is a pianist, only 25 years young and he plays Bach with seriousness and with a verve that is ravishing. A crisp tone indicates that this young man seems to have vigorous fingers. But there also an enormous interpretative will notable throughout, which indeed for the great E Minor Partita, the peak of this genre in Bach’s oeuvre, is urgently needed. There’s no room for hesitation as this Partita decisively wends its way through the polyphonic thicket. But every part is finely shaped, masterfully channeled, set in the context of what happens around it. All the pieces are marked by refined phrasing and highly transparent articulation. The powerful sound, reminiscent of an organ, which could be seen as just a bit too majestic and pompous is maintained throughout by David Theodor Schmidt. In Shostakovich’s Prelude & Fugue in D Minor (a work which represents the crowning culmination of the Bach-oriented 1950/51 cycle), the tempi are cogently logical and well balanced both within each passage and in the context of the work as a whole. It leaves the listener astonished at how masterfully Schmidt proportions here and at the same time understands the quasi-religious dimension of the work. And then there are Liszt’s Variations on a motif by Bach (Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen). This performance, too, is masterly. Virtuosic. Powerful. And, lest we forget: touching, even moving. Magnificent.

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