Bach Partita No 1 B flat BMV 825 Snippets Cortot

Because of his early first recordings of complete works composed by Chopin, Cortot became, in the publics mind, a Chopin specialist. (This also was the case, to a lesser extent, with Rubinstein) This was unfortunate because Cortot had, during his younger years, a large repertoire. His Beethoven was highly regarded. However as he aged, Cortot dropped many composers from his live performing repertoire. The public expected Chopin and that (with a few exceptions such as Schumann, Debussy etc. ) is what he gave them. Here we hear Cortot play snippets from Bachs Partita No 1 in B flat Major during a master class given sometime between 1954 and 1960. Praeludium, Allemande, Corrente, and Sarabande. I suspect that many years had passed since Cortot had played this work in public. However, it gives us some idea as to how this legendary pianist played Bach. This is one of the few examples of a "Legendary Pianist" born in the 19th century playing music of Bach that was not transcribed.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bach
• Partita
• No
• Cortot

[Shezan2008]

What a pity this great musician was also one of Vichy's most zealous Collaborationists!

[PiotrekChrobot]

Too fast.

[PhilippeLoTheEternal]

1:20 - > 2:34

Alors ici [piano] n'est-ce pas ?... sans bousculer tout ça... [piano]... aisé, facile.... qu'est-ce que c'était que la courante ? C'était une danse lente [piano]... le dialogue entre les deux parties, n'est-ce pas ? [piano...] toujours le même rythme, n'est-ce pas ?

[PhilippeLoTheEternal]

Hey everybody, I try to give the french translitteration (I'm french but I can make mistakes..)

0:00 - > 1:20

Qu'est-ce que c'est que cette Partita : c'est une suite de danses ! Toutes les pièces de cette suite sont caractérisées par leur aimable modération [jeu au piano] ... Pas de préméditation dans tout ça...

pas de crescendo trop marqué [jeu....] ... ??c'est tout doux ainsi?? ... [jeu] ...Ça suffit amplement ;

C'est un feuillet d'album.

[iedsri]

This casual music-making by Cortot is *manifestly great*. Anyone who rejects it -- particularly on such flimsy grounds as those cited above -- reveals only his or her absolute lack of qualification to judge. Such people would do well to *sit*down,*pay*attention*and*l­earn*from*their*betters!

-- Benjamin Pilkington

"Sit down, be quiet and learn from your betters!"

[chusomen]

French is my second language. Maybe I shouldn't have written "big crescendos" (Crescendi if you please). Let's say romantic phrasing, it could be more accurate. It's musical but it's not academic at all. Many respect Cortot as a piano legend but this version respects only (and not all) the notes that Bach wrote. If this doesn't make sense to you, it's indeed not my problem.

[PhilippeLoTheEternal]

'Pas de crescendos trop marqués, comme ceci' is teaching Cortot....He is explaning that ; be aware to the oral evidences and it is your comment that does not make sense...

[mingweicello]

the openning bars are some of the most beautiful piano playing ever.

[hymntonight]

These little snippets are to me a revelation, though I'm sure Cortot didn't mean much of them ... He is clearly just running through the notes, probably sight-reading, and yet what originality and expressivity in every phrase!

[nyankothecat]

Wonderful!!! beautiful!!