Avi Avital: my Johann Sebastian Bach top five
In an exclusive IDAGIO playlist, mandolinist Avi Avital presents his top five J. S. Bach recordings, including the Violin Partita No. 2 which features on his new Bach album.
Read more…Bach: Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 in D minor BWV 1004 (Arr. for Keyboard)
I've played the Second Violin Partita in my own arrangement now since I was 17, and it's still changing and shaping itself. There's so much in this piece – and especially in the Chaconne – that you always discover new things. I've just recorded it, having put it off for a long time. Before doing so, though, I decided to refresh a little bit by listening to other recordings and seeing how other people interpreted it, especially on other instruments. In the end I more or less stayed with the way I'd always approached it, but one arrangement that really surprised me and amazed me – and gave me a lot of inspiration and input – was Gustav Leonhardt's. He takes the partita and makes it a piece for the harpsichord, with bass and other lines, as if Bach himself had written it for the harpsichord. The choices he makes in terms of harmonization and the lines that he invents are just brilliant and it gave me a lot of insight into the piece and its structure, letting me look at it through a different lens.
Bach: Mass in B minor BWV 232
Bach's music is not sentimental but it does tap into some sort of mood, and the way it can influence you is amazing. Or at least that's what happens every time this "Agnus Dei" starts. I don't know if I can describe in words, but it's calm, it's like someone is telling you the truth, the absolute truth – right now. And I can certainly tell you what it's not: it's not a jolly, cheerful tune. It's something very philosophical that puts you in a reflective mood. And Gardiner's interpretation is the one that I find the best in terms of its sounds and the choices that he makes with the basso continuo – in particular, the decision to have the organ sound right at those iconic first notes of the "Agnus Dei".
Bach: Prelude and Fughetta in G major BWV 902
I came across this recording only recently and it really touched me. It's very personal in the way he manages to guide your ear to the voices that are interesting, but at the same time, even with three or four voices in the counterpoint, you feel that your ear is always in the right place. You have a sense that the piece is complete, perfect, solid as a structure, and that you're being guided into it in the most effective way. One of the risks in music that has so much detail and so many voices is that you can get lost in it and end up with a soup of notes. But it doesn't sound like heavy piano music here; it just sounds like Bach.
Bach: Overture (Suite) No. 3 in D major BWV 1068
The Air from the Third Suite is probably the most famous Bach piece in existence – it was on the first Bach recording I ever encountered. I can't remember who was playing or what label it was on, but it was just such a discovery. If there's anyone out there who loves classical music but hasn't heard this Air yet then I'm really jealous, because hearing it for the first time was life-changing. Like the Piazza San Marco in Venice, or the Sistine Chapel, there's only one time you see it for the first time, and this is a precious moment to remember. That's what it was like with this little movement, which is just so perfect, especially with that walking bass line that you feel could go on forever. I was just recently listening and comparing different interpretations afresh – of the air and the complete suite – and this is one by Zefiro that I currently really like.
Bach: Concerto for Violin (Oboe), Strings and Basso continuo in D minor BWV 1052R
This piece is connected to where I am now, to the city I chose to have as my base, to Berlin. Before I moved here, about 12 or 13 years ago, I visited the city for the first time. A friend of mine had given me the keys to his apartment in Prenzlauer Berg and when I got in there early in the morning, I just randomly pressed play on the stereo. This recording was on the CD that was in there. I knew the piece already in the harpsichord version, but this account I found brilliant: it woke me up to the piece again. I put it on my iPod and it was there in my ears for the whole week as I discovered Berlin, amazed by the city, the art and the fact that everyone shares the same kind of love for innovation: everything that creates this very special energy that everyone talks about.
I remember sitting on the plane on the way home (I lived in Italy at the time) with two seeds planted in my head. First, I had to play this piece. I went back and started work immediately on an arrangement. Second, Berlin was a city I had to move to one day. Fast forward five years: I was living in Berlin, this piece had been arranged and I was recording it for my debut on Deutsche Grammophon!
[Due to geo-blocking restrictions, some tracks might be unavailable in certain territories.]