“For the Use and Profit of the Musical Youth Desirous of Learning, drawn up and written by Johann Sebastian Bach, Capellmeister to His Serene Highness, the Prince of Anhalt-Cothen, etc. and Director of His Chamber Music. Anno 1722.”
So go the words on the published manuscript, words indicating a composer’s intention for his “The Well-Tempered Clavier:” that this incredible collection of keyboard pieces be used for instruction. But pianists of a far more professional stature have taken to this music, making a study of it so that they can pass it along in public concerts and recordings to a vast audience attracted to these works of the master Bach.
Don Freund has made a study of Book 1 of “The Well-Tempered Clavier” since he was a teenager, he says, which would have been around the mid-1960s, adding that he’ll probably never get around to Book 2, since he continues to work busily and productively at Book 1. He calls his efforts an obsession. “I just can’t let go of that music,” he insists. The results of his admitted obsession will be shared in the coming weeks and starting today as he begins a lecture/recital series devoted to this seductive cycle.
You may recall that Don Freund has played these pieces for us on previous occasions. This time, however, he’s really going at his labors full force, not only as performer but as teacher and composer. It is as composer we know him best. One or another Freund composition can be heard round about campus and town every so often. As such, he’s proved himself an estimable craftsman, flexible of approach and attuned to the times. He obviously loves the piano, too, sometimes sitting at a Steinway, this usually as partner in a performance of his own music.
“As pianist, these Bach pieces help keep my fingers going,” he says, “but, even more important to me, it’s my mind as a composer they keep clear. I want to write music people remember. Bach continually shows me how through the range and textures and style he imbued his compositions with. I don’t like people to think of ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ as complicated and arcane. This is music people can listen to, which is exactly what I try to do. I want listeners to get involved in a composer’s ideas, in my ideas as a composer. No one was better at that than Bach.
“Every piece in the set,” Freund continues, “has its own character, a hook that leaves an impression. Then, there’s the unique way Bach puts them all together, making of them a narrative, giving them a purpose. It’s quite amazing. Nothing, except for my own composing, has so continually enriched me as my commitment to this music.”
Freund will play Book 1, which covers less than two hours in performance, twice, on consecutive nights in early October, having chosen the small-scaled Ford-Crawford Hall because of its intimacy. “I prefer to have listeners close. By doing it twice, I give more people an opportunity to hear it, and in my preferred venue.”
He will offer, in addition, four Sunday “Composition Lessons with J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1,” during which he will talk about the music and offer generous doses of the music itself. “Why talk about it and not hear it,” he says. “I want to show what’s there for listeners to hear and respond to. The book includes some dense music. It helps to have a guide. We’ll focus on what can be heard in the music, what patterns, moments, climaxes to recognize and how Bach has managed to gain our attention. There’s a real lesson here on what composers can do to make their music work.”
The lecture demonstrations will take place in Sweeney Hall, where three projectors are available. “I’ll put the scores on screen, color coded. That way I can talk about the green theme and the red theme, for instance, how they work separately and how they come together. Then, I’ll play examples. I’ve used this method before, but I keep developing and growing it.”
Are four lectures necessary to cover one set of pieces? “Well, there are 24,” Freund explains. “So I’ll have only 15 minutes per prelude and fugue. That’s not too much. In fact, it will push me from time to time.”
Don Freund is an enthusiast. He seems to attack whatever musical project he undertakes with vigor. Asked how he manages to keep his pianism fresh, do his composing, and handle his teaching and other university duties, he responds: “A lot of people work harder than I do. We always want more time. But, you know, we have summers. We have breaks. I get in about four hours a day composing, on the average, in the summers more. I stay up late. I’m a night person. We have weekends. I can get quite a bit done. I don’t play golf. I don’t do a lot of other things. Music is my 12-hour-per-day obsession. I never get tired of that. I hope to do what I do for a long time. Music is so great. Why would I not want to give it my fullest energy?”
As for what he hopes will happen for us who come to listen, he says: “I want to pass along the power, the expressiveness of the 24 pieces, to let listeners gain elation from this great music. They’ll be able to follow the rhetoric and structure, to hear the cycle from beginning to end, to capture its continuity, its flow. Something always happens in this music, if you can stay intellectually engaged. There’s emotional and psychological satisfaction that comes from being exposed to it. I want to get people to start loving it, if they don’t already.”
The opportunity “to start loving it” begins this evening at 7 in Sweeney Hall.
If you go
WHAT: A series of lecture demonstrations devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1,” along with two performances of the music, by IU composer and pianist Don Freund.
WHEN AND WHERE, THE LECTURES: Four Sundays in IU’s Sweeney Hall, starting this evening at 7, continuing Sept. 20 at 7 p.m., then Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at 4 p.m.
WHEN AND WHERE, THE PERFORMANCE: Friday and Saturday evenings, Oct. 2 and 3, at 8:30 p.m. in Ford-Crawford Hall.
ADMISSION: Free.
Show times
• This evening at 7 in First United Church, an IU Voice Faculty Cabaret, fundraiser for the student chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, features Sylvia McNair, Marietta Simpson, Carlos Montane, Mary Ann Hart, Alice Hopper, Patricia Stiles, Liz Avery, Gary Arvin, Edwin Penhorwood, Kyle Ferrill, and Brian Horne. Tickets: $10; $5 for those with IU identification.
• Then at 8 p.m. in Auer Hall, faculty trombonist Carl Lenthe offers a recital containing music of Gershwin, Tommy Dorsey and others. Free.
• Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Musical Arts Center, the IU Philharmonic opens the new orchestral season with works by Verdi (Overture to “Nabucco”), Tchaikovsky (Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture), and Richard Strauss (“Don Quixote”). David Effron conducts. Free.
• At 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Erne Auditorium of Columbus North High School, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, led by Bloomington’s David Bowden, will play music of Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 4) and Chopin (Piano Concerto No. 1, with Di Wu as soloist).
Please note that a previously scheduled event for this afternoon by Studio in Bloom has been postponed. Reportedly, it will be rescheduled.
It’s a rare week for WTIU, featuring several programs devoted to classical music: this afternoon at 2:30, a Great Performances program, “Herbert von Karajan: Beauty As I See It;” Monday evening at 10, “Note by Note: the Making of Steinway L1037,” about the crafting of a concert grand from the Alaska forest to the concert hall; on Wednesday evening at 8, Live from Lincoln Center, “New York Philharmonic: Opening Night Gala Concert,” with its new music director, Alan Gilbert, in charge and soprano Renee Fleming as soloist, and at 10, Great Performances, “Vienna Philharmonic Summer Concert 2009,” Daniel Barenboim conducting.
A WFIU (103.7 FM) special event comes Thursday evening at 9 when Harmonia offers “Highlights from the 2009 Bloomington Early Music Festival, Part 1.”
