Dear David, Mimi, Carol et al:  

I have actually enjoyed of late performing some Bach on the piano — the only instrument available at my local Unitarian Fe[lowship where I volunteer on occasion.  Some pieces work better than others.  Moreover I retract my earlier view that French clavecin music cannot be transferred to the piano.  nonsense, I now think.  Just pick your pieces carefully.  I once heard some Buxtehude on the accordion: those nasty pedal parts were wondrous played on the bass buttons. 

My very favorite Malcolm Bilson moment was his response to a student’s question at a master class somewhere: when asked if we should be playing Haydn on the clavichord, MB opined, you can play it on a kazoo.  The point is to get the music right — to learn to READ the music in the spirit of its time.  

I am unlikely to seek out the newest Goldberg recording on the Steinway, except to study the very idea of transformation.  And, having removed myself from the university lab, I no longer have immediate access to the most appropriate instrument every day, despite the five keyboards in my house. How far would you like to go, David Pickett, in restricting Bach:  particular type of harpsichord, pitch, temperament, acoustic environment…?  I’m afraid the choir you thought you were preaching to now speaks in a wide range of voices.  Arguing for a single approach gets a bit silly, I fear.  And the music in its nearly infinite variety goes missing. 

Sandra Mangsen
North Bennington, VT
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Date:    Sat, 9 Jun 2018 23:33:52 +0100
> From:    Mimi Waitzman <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Bach on the Piano
> 
> David,
> Nobody owns Bach; not you, not  Beatrice Rana, not Gould, Busoni, Leonhardt,
> Tovey... no one. Bach belongs to everyone who enjoys the music. We cannot
> dictate others' innocent enjoyment. There is no right or wrong way to play
> or enjoy Bach. Bach's music is not a moral imperative, it is art. It is a
> conversation. It is right to play Bach. Play it any way you can, on anything
> you can. Learn it, hear it again and again. Hum it, improvise on it. Get to
> grips with it in any way you can. You enjoy it one way, someone else enjoys
> it another. If you don't like what you are hearing, turn off the recording,
> or the radio or leave the concert hall. Harpsichordists are not locked in
> battle with pianists. This is music. This is about participating in another
> person's creative imagination.
> Mimi

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