Unpopular Opinions

[ricercar]

Also, and this may be even more unpopular: When I listen to Víkingur Ólafsson, sometimes I feel as though I am listening to an overly-polished, sterile Glenn Gould imitator with no grit.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Well, this is my hot take: I think Andras Schiff is an awful Bach interpreter.

I agree

[psipsi8]

Well, this is my hot take: I think Andras Schiff is an awful Bach interpreter.

I think the same regarding Cyprien Katsaris, who is an otherwise great interpreter particularly of romantic works.

[eee-_-]

Well, this is my hot take: I think Andras Schiff is an awful Bach interpreter.

I completely agree with you

[dizzyfingers]

Well, this is my hot take: I think Andras Schiff is an awful Bach interpreter.

Oh yeah?  Care to explain how you arrived at this verdict?

The reason Schiff became identified as a worthy Bach-ist is because of his place in the history of recorded music:  for years Glenn Gould ruled the Bach throne, even though his interpretations were uneven, and some of them downright unpleasant, i.e. robotic/neurotic, Schiff was a return to Bach with soul, something with warmth, he made a name for himself as a counter balance to Gould.  The public was ready, they warmly welcomed his more heart-felt interpretations.

[ricercar]

Oh yeah?  Care to explain how you arrived at this verdict?

The reason Schiff became identified as a worthy Bach-ist is because of his place in the history of recorded music:  for years Glenn Gould ruled the Bach throne, even though his interpretations were uneven, and some of them downright unpleasant, i.e. robotic/neurotic, Schiff was a return to Bach with soul, something with warmth, he made a name for himself as a counter balance to Gould.  The public was ready, they warmly welcomed his more heart-felt interpretations.

I completely disagree with this take. What people call "neurotic" in Gould, to my ears, is real intellectual and emotional depth. His Bach isn't lacking soul - on the contrary, when I listen to Gould's Bach, it's as if every note is a nuclear fission. The 1981 Goldberg Variations record without fail has me in tears on every listen. And many other records resonate with me deeply, in particular his Partita No. 5. Some of his records are less agreeable to my ears; for example his rendition of the P&F No. 4 in C#m from WTC 1 is horrendous in my opinion. But on the whole I identify more with Gould's Bach more than that of most pianists, with the exception of Rosalyn Tureck, who I think is even superior to Gould in some respects. Her clarity of voicing and articulation is extraordinary - each line is so precisely distinguished that you hear the architecture of Bach's counterpoint with more transparency than Gould achieved. She took this radical approach long before Gould, and frankly deserves far more recognition than she's received. In fact many of Gould's idioms in the Goldberg Variations are taken directly from her, note for note.

Anyway, Schiff sounds incredibly bland to me. What gets praised as "warmth" is really just conventional, safe, polished playing that doesn't challenge anything. To me it's the musical equivalent of beige. He plays Bach like it's elevator music.