rubsam bach

[Jim Morrison <jim_morrison@sprynet.com>]

Hi List,


Here's some information on Rubsam's Bach, some of which is quoted from an
email
friend named Bradley.  I'm sure some people on the list will know him.

When I was speaking of Rubsam being an "odd" player,
I was mainly thinking of his piano recordings, though I know
I made the statement in context of his KdF, which is very slow.

Rubsam has a way of being very free with the rhythm that,
for me at least, obliterates the forward momentum that I love
so much in some Bach recordings.  Once you've heard him on the
piano I think it would be hard to mistake him for anyone else.

Here's Brad's comments.  he can do a much better job than me on this.

"The "pedagoguish" there reminds me of the booklet notes to Wolfgang
Rubsam's Bach recordings on the piano, on Naxos discs (some were
previously released on Bayer).  But I wouldn't characterize Rubsam as in
any way arrogant, or *merely* pedagoguish.  In both his notes and his
playing, Rubsam is clearly out to demonstrate a fresh, rhetorical manner
of playing Bach on the piano.  This is based partly on his musical
sensibilities, and partly on research into baroque aesthetics.  The
recordings are a way to get that style into the ears of piano students and
teachers, who might not have seriously entertained the notion of Bach on
the piano as being so free rhythmically (loose at the note level, within
absolutely clear bigger beats).

Personally, I think these recordings are terrific, and generally
underrated so far.  Rubsam treats the piano almost as if it were a
clavichord, and his attention to detail is remarkable...yet long lines and
compositional structure are also there.  To me, they're at least as
interesting as Gould's interpretations, and certainly much less stiff.
They remind me a bit of Andras Schiff, too, and some of Joao Carlos
Martins' work.  One of the most amazing things is how quietly Rubsam can
play. "

Bradley's on the art of fugue by Rubsam


"Wolfgang Rubsam (Naxos 8.550704, 1992), 12'59", organ: slowest performance
of all, yet it doesn't seem as slow as the piano recordings do.  On the
organ there is more room for this spaciousness, and it seems more natural.
He uses a quiet and gentle registration throughout: sounds like a
Principal 8 and a Flute 4 only, until he uses pedal more prominently in
the last section, adding 16 and a gentle reed there.  Melancholy mood
throughout, and a probing and plastic approach to tempo: he highlights
many events by dwelling on them slightly.  The phrases all have their own
breaths, and the flow of the music sounds improvisatory.  In the second
and third sections he stretches things more and more as they go along.
Interesting concept, as the piece sounds like some form of evolution.  It
is clear that the piece is becoming more complex, as he requires more time
to bring out everything. In a way, that builds up its own kind of energy,
quite different from motoric momentum.  Sort of a mental multitasking
energy rather than physical. "


and this from an amazon reviewer


"This review is for not only this Naxos disc of Wolfgang Rubsam's recording
of the 1st and 2nd French Suites of Bach but also for its companion disc
that has the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th as well; and also this review can apply
to the two Naxos discs of Rubsam's recordings of the English Suites... I
should mention first off that these are piano recordings... Wolfgang
Rubsam's style in these recordings can be very jarring to a first-time
listener. In fact the style can sound so jarring that a first-time listener
might easily conclude that this is just simply bad Bach playing. The formal
phrase for the main strangeness of his style is 'agogic accents'. To the
informal listener it just sounds like he is putting alot of 'hesitations' in
his playing. I found that I was immediately put off when I first heard these
discs. Upon further listening, though, I found myself being drawn into his
style, and I found that the style was allowing me to hear these works in a
new way. To describe it visually: most Bach recordings on piano tend to flow
horizontilly like a stream. Rubsam's style of playing tends to build the
music vertically into structures. This is a very different and striking and
beautiful way to hear these works. (You can imagine that the structures
built by the notes of Bachs music in your imagination can be beyond the most
otherworldly cathedrals or anything else...) It may not be the only way to
hear these works, but this style definitely compliments the usual style you
hear in Bach recordings.




In other reviews of Wolfgang Rubsam's piano recordings of Bach for the Naxos
label I've given warnings and explanations of Rubsam's style (agogic) and
how his style brings the music upwards into structures rather than various
types of flowing which is the most common type of interpretation, but for
this disc I just simply say unbelievable, must hear, must own, strangely
beautiful and sublime Bach piano recording. There are only two of the
Partitas on this disc (the most beautiful and the greatest) yet the disc is
over an hour. The famous Allemande of Partita No. 4 is 11:53. The Sarabande
is 7:20. From the opening Fantasia of Partita No. 3 in A Minor this disc
immediately announces itself as special. There are no reservations; if you
love Bach played on piano and you are open to different styles (though,
there is really nothing jarring in Rubsam's style on this disc) you should
not pass up this recording. It's hard to imagine music and playing more
refined and evocative of a higher world; like music at an open-air court of
a palace somewhere in the world of Olympian mythology...the sun-lit palace
of Apollo...as well as the music of Artemis on the mountains or by the
springs..."


and here are a few reviews from Gramophone:




Bach Organ Works. Wolfgang Rubsam (org).





  Naxos (Super budget price) (CD) 8 553033 (67 minutes: DDD). Played on the
Taylor and Boody organ of St Joseph's Memorial Chapel, Worcester,
Massachusetts.





  Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV535. O Gott, du frommer Gott, BWV767.
Trio in G minor, BWV584. Valet will ich dir geben, BWV736. Prelude and Fugue
in G, BWV550. Canzona in D minor, BWV588. Wir glauben all' an einen Gott,
Vater, BWV740. Allabreve in D, BWV589.





  Selected comparison:





  Rubsam (PHIL) 438 170-2PB16





  First let me openly confess that I actually asked to review this CD - not
because I'm an organ music specialist (although my devotion to Bach's organ
works goes back many years), but because I was absolutely fascinated by the
extraordinary transformations that have occurred in Wolfgang Rubsam's
playing, especially since the time he first recorded the Bach cycle (for
Philips, back in the late 1970s). Everything has changed - tempos, phrasing,
articulation, choices of registration and, most significantly, a switch from
relative interpretative sobriety to a freely rhapsodizing, almost
improvisatory approach to the music. Counterpoint is still clear, but rubato
is virtually the order of the day, even in a piece like the beautiful Valet
will ich dir geben which, although not too different from its predecessor in
terms of overall tempo (5'11" as opposed to 5'19" on the Philips set), now
assumes far greater flexibility. Of course the tonal differences between the
Taylor and Boody organ in Massachusetts (Naxos) and the instrument at
Marcussen, Freiburg (Philips) must account for some of the contrasts, but
most relate to Rubsam's significant changes of heart. Take, by way of a
particularly telling example, the modulating scale passages 1'17" into
BWV535 (Naxos) which, 17 years earlier, incorporated roughly half the number
of disposition changes. Try, too, the newer version of the choral partita O
Gott, du frommer Gott and compare it - in the opening chorale especially -
with its far 'straighter' predecessor. These are totally different worlds,
less alike than either performance would be if set beside the work of
another organist. And although slower speeds tell only part of the story,
just cast an eye across these comparisons (the first timing is Naxos, the
second Philips): BWV535 (8'25", 6'40"), BWV767 (18'15", 15'00"), BWV584
(3'15", 2'19"), BWV550 (8'08", 6'07"), BWV558 (8'48", 5'39"), BWV740 (6'26",
4'53") and BWV589 (7'45", 5'38"). Now, I call that a very dramatic
development!





  As to the newer cycle (or as much of it as I've so far managed to hear), I
find myself torn between fascination and exasperation. Certainly Rubsam's
latest efforts present a deeply personal response to the music, a sort of
stylistic cross-breed between Gouldian willfulness and Schweitzerian
nobility, daring in concept but strangely introspective in effect. They're
very much 'of a piece' with Rubsam's Bach recordings on piano (also
currently appearing on Naxos) - radical re-interpretations, not only of the
'older' Rubsam, but of the 'older' Bach. I keep going back to them, and I
suggest that if you enjoy Gould, Koopman, Landowska, Tachezi, Hurford or any
other individualist Bach players, you'd do well to sample these. At
super-budget price they're certainly cheap enough to risk one way or the
other. However, if you're devoted to Rubsam's earlier self, then steer
clear - that's unless you want to risk a profound culture shock. Annotation
is adequate, but there are no details about the instrument.





  RC




Bach The Art of Fugue, BWV1080. Wolfgang Rubsam (org).





  Naxos (Super budget price) (CD) 8 550703/4 (two discs, oas: 72 and 78
minutes: DDD). Played on the Flentrop organ of Duke University Chapel,
Durham, USA.





  8 550703-Contrapunctus 1-12, 14, 15. 8 550704-Contrapunctus 13,17-19.
Passa-caglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV582. Sei gegrusset, Jesu gutig,
BWV768.





  If a case has to be made to justify performing The Art of Fugue on the
organ one need look no further than the Fugue subject itself. It fits
naturally under the hands and the feet and cries out for the organ's unique
sustaining qualities. Not that Wolfgang Rubsam relies overmuch on those
sustaining qualities. Full-blown legato touch has no place in the scheme of
things here; Rubsam's clearly defined, unpretentious phrasing is quite
sufficient to trace the interweaving contrapuntal voices. He leads us
unfalteringly through the most labyrinthine of Bach's contrapuntal mazes,
yet his self-assured geniality makes it all seem, if not simple, at least
accessible. Clearly the sumptuous organ sound helps, but in resisting any
temptation to fall into a routine loud/soft/loud pattern or to explore the
more unusual stops Rubsam allows the music to flow uncluttered by external
stimuli. Not everything works; a prominent Twelfth creates an unsettling
organum effect during the initial statement of the subject. Neither am I
convinced of the logic behind Rubsam's ordering of the Contrapuncti, and in
dividing them between the two discs he has effectively prevented
re-programming of the work in its numerical sequence. The two 'unfinished'
Contrapuncti, 14 and 16, are included but not the chorale prelude Wenn wir
in hochsten Noten sein; a pity since it would surely sound absolutely
ravishing on this lovely instrument.





  I find it incredible that these two magnificently recorded discs are
available at super-budget price. For those who consider CDs to be
over-priced here is a most blatant example of CD under-pricing-I'd happily
pay well over the odds for this valuable addition to the catalogue.





  MR




  In the booklet Rubsam gives his views on the performance of Bach on the
piano: eschewing both romantic and metronomic approaches, he advocates one
based on "the often neglected elements of rhetoric enegalite [sic], the
structures of the strong and weak within a given pulse and metre" and much
more, including "rhythmic flexibility within the structure of the melodic
line." He adds that "The degree of such bending of time is most personal and
strongly communicative when applied with balance and refinement of taste".
The objective is that of "merging the 'old' with the 'new'".
      Naxos (Super budget price) (CD) 8 550709/10 (two discs, oas: 55 and 66
minutes: DDD).





  8 550709-No. 1 in D minor, BWV812; No. 2 in C minor, BWV813. Concerto in
the Italian style, BWV971. Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV903.
8 550710-No. 3 in B minor, BWV814; No. 4 in E flat, BWV815; No. 5 in G,
BWV816; No. 6 in E, BWV817.





  French [Suite] Suites/Italian Concerto-selected comparison:





  A. Schiff (10/93) (DECC) 433 313-2DH





  My assessment of my first encounter with Rubsam (and his with Bach-Naxos,
8/94) contained more bad news than good, and this second one has little more
of comfort to offer. One of his most infuriating weaknesses is his
irritating habit of disturbing the flow in pointing phrases by holding on to
'key' notes-a more valuable tool to a harpsichordist than to a pianist, who
has other means at his disposal. It is, of course, not forbidden to pianists
but Rubsam seems to believe that nothing succeeds like excess; there is
nothing wrong with his intent, but he is guilty of loitering. Rubato was
once likened by a friend of mine to "little arrows pointing in right
directions" and it has its place in baroque music; the key words are however
'little' and 'right'. Rubsam's are intrusive. Though he rarely fails to
repay his medium-term debts he too often evokes doubts that he will do so.
His alternate depressings of the accelerator and brake pedals give the aural
passenger an uncomfortable ride, never more so than in many of the
galanteries; these are dance movements.





  One cannot complain of an absence of ornamental enterprise, nor that its
elements are unstylish, rather might one feel there to be too much of it;
success recedes in the face of excess, notably in the Allemande of
BWV817-another case of too much of a good thing. I have a full page of 'oh
dear!' notes, for which there is not space here: the soporific rather than
lilting Loure of BWV816 and the heavy-handed accenting of the opening of the
Gigue of BWV817 must suffice to represent them.





  There is, as always, some good news: the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue and
the Italian Concerto are the best items, though the tiptoeing accompaniment
to the Andante of the latter brings the Pink Panther to mind, and a number
of individual movements of the French Suites are unexceptionable. My
recommendation to stay with Andras Schiff, who also offers the Italian
Concerto, still stands.





  JD





  The end product is neither fish, fowl, nor good meat. In such matters as
the undistorted balancing of lines, ornamentation and modest but sufficient
added embellishment, Rubsam scores well, but does not fare so well in some
other important respects. Most obtrusive by far is his use of rubato, in
which, even when his books balance at interim audits, his borrowings and
repayments are excessive-redolent of a 'stop-go economy'. There is no need
to cite examples of the resultant uncomfortable ebbs and flows; it is hard
to escape from them. More, excessive dwellings to emphasize the beginnings
and ends of phrases within a continuous line are ubiquitous. Other
irritants, too numerous to list in a brief review, include a number of
dream-like tempos (e.g. 11'53" for the Allemande of Partita No. 4, BWV828)
and some chords cut with minimal tone (e.g. the Sinfonia of Partita No. 2,
BWV826) whilst some others are thunderously hammered (e.g. the scherzo of
Partita No. 1, BWV825). There are some good musical things on offer, mostly
on the third disc (Partitas Nos. 5 and 6), the one to go for if you're
inclined to investigate the strange world of Rubsam/Bach with the least
discomfort.