Pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar: A Risk Taker

20^th Singapore International Piano Festival.  School of the Arts Concert Hall.  Singapore.  June 21, 2013.  All over the world, business risk takers, entrepreneurs, are being celebrated and their talents touted to the rest of us as being indispensable to follow.  But, in music, there are also risk takers, and like their business counterparts, they sometimes succeed and sometimes fail.  The well-regarded South African/English pianist, Daniel-Ben Pienaar, took a big risk in programming all 24 of Bach’s preludes and fugues of Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, into one recital program:  45 minutes of preludes and fugues, a little respite (a 15 minute intermission), followed by another 45 minutes of more preludes and fugues.  That’s it folks, now go home.

What’s the risk?  Boredom, the result of too much of a good thing.  Naturally, you have to be a superb pianist to commit this intricate music to memory, and Pienaar is a very good pianist, and you have to have the stamina and power of intense concentration to play all of these preludes and fuges in one sitting.  But, come on, there’s an audience involved, and what about them?  In Bangkok, where I live, you wouldn’t have to worry about the audience:  they’d have their iPhones and iPads turned on in short order, then some talking to their neighbours, general fidgeting, a few photos during the performance with and without flash, and so it would go.  Singapore, however, is well-behaved and there’s no easy way out of being bored,  just endure it.     

I found Pienaar’s excursion through Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier endlessly fascinating, indeed, exciting.  Each prelude and fugue sounded like a self-contained miniature to which Pienaar was dedicated to exploring with something different, but within an interpretive framework that was always Johann Sebastian Bach.  This kind of coloring and subtlety is only possible on the modern piano, and Pienaar never hesitated to effectively use the pedals and the possibilities of the keyboard in the service of his view of Bach.  His performance would not have satisfied the early music or original instrument gang, but it was not a romantic performance either, which means that it lacked excess.  For me, Pienaar’s risk paid off, and judging by the applause from the large audience and comments I heard afterwards, I was not the only audience member similarly pleased.

    

P.S.:  Pienaar will be at it again, this time in London, at  the wonderful Kings Place concert hall (far more comfortable than the venerable Wigmore), where he will play all of Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier on December 5, followed, if you can believe it, by all of Book 2 on the following night.  If I were in London, I’d go both nights.

Now, here's a real review of Pienaar's Singapore appearance, from The Straits Times:
 

DANIEL-BEN PIENAAR Piano Recital

20th Singapore International Piano Festival

SOTA Concert Hall

Friday (21 June 2013)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 24 June 2013 with the title "Bach with pizzazz".

The thought of J.S.Bach’s Preludes and Fugues, frequent subjects of piano examinations and competitions, often sends young people recoiling with horror and into post-traumatic stress with the memory of futile music lessons and the inevitable knuckle-rapping. Thus the notion of sitting through 24 of these in a single concert is a daunting prospect, sure recipe for tedium and indigestion.

Or so we thought. Bach specialists on the piano like Angela Hewitt and Andras Schiff have made it a life mission to perform both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier en bloc to adoring devotees worldwide. And so has debutant to the Singapore International Piano Festival, the South Africa-born and London-based pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar, who offered the entire First Book in one sitting.

Each book begins with a paired Prelude and Fugue in sunny C major, and works its way through alternating major and minor keys by ascending a semitone with each number, and closing in the sombre key of B minor. The first Prelude is the most familiar, a play on the simple C major triad. Yet when Pienaar played, it sounded radically different. Absurdly fast was the first thought that came to mind.

However it is known that Bach left no tempo or dynamic markings, thus allowing the performer the freest rein to indulge in whatever fancies. Clearly this was the invitation to an account that is unencumbered by convention or tradition, one that assailed and piqued the senses. Like the late Glenn Gould before him, Pienaar was determined to make the listener hear with different ears.

And it worked, largely because he is a sensitive soul allied with the keenest sense of imagination. Without going into the minutiae of each piece, the set was delivered as a breezy whole that kept one riveted throughout. The contrapuntal playing was projected with utter clarity. Nothing sounded preserved or pre-cooked, and he rarely applied the same seasonings to each piece.

Varying the tonal palette, he could make the piano sound as light as a harpsichord in the fast toccata-like preludes. Applying more pedal, he also created organ-like sonorities for the slower fugues, and because the piano was foreign to Bach’s era, each number became a transcription freshly minted.

As to the various moods conjured up in the evening, there was a cornucopia’s worth. Moody elegies alternated with joyous and energised dances, and the improvisatory feel applied to many of the pieces gave the uncanny impression of a jazzman at work. Whoever thought that of crusty old Papa Johann Sebastian?  

Pienaar’s return with the Second Book of the WTC 48 is keenly awaited.