“As I perform Bach’s Chaconne, I feel as though I am given a rare glimpse over the edge.”
For the third time, violinist Liza Ferschtman will enter into a dialogue with Johann Sebastian Bach. In Utrecht, The Hague (at Classical NOW! on Sunday evening 18 December) and London, she will play his Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato, better known as the 6 Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin. In Bach's eyes, man was created in God's image. For this reason, he signed his compositions with Soli Deo Gloria ('to God alone be the honour'). This phrase reflects his belief that
those who deeply engage with his divine music can connect with the
creator through sound. By immersing themselves in his compositions,
listeners can ascend to higher and deeper levels of understanding and
communication with the divine. According to Goethe, all of Bach's music sounds 'as if die ewige Harmonie sich mit sichselbst unterhielte.' Ferschtman thinks the same and explains what Bach's 6 Sonatas & Partitas mean to her.
In search of perfection
You are now embarking on your third cycle of the 6 Sonatas & Partitas. What
fascinates you so much about this music and do you keep going at it
'forever' ?
'To answer the second question right away : Yes ! Is it a fascination ?
No, not even that per se, you just know and feel that there is always
more to discover. Your perspective also changes. Your taste develops and
your sense of tempo fluctuates over the years. That applies to all good
music, of course. But with Bach's solo works, the special thing is that
you can create music on your own that is so incredibly complete. And
even more so in the polyphonic parts. It's great to be in control of the
voicing on your own, as if you were a pianist or a string quartet. That
actually gives infinite possibilities. In no other series of solo works
is this the case. For instance, I sometimes try to take apart the
double stops in 6 Sonatas opus 27 by Ysaÿe in order to follow the
voicing properly, but this is far from always logical and correct. I
still experience this as a bit disappointing. With Bach, everything is
always perfect.'
When did you first play Bach's Sonatas & Partitas and what has
changed in the way you approach these pieces since then?
'I played the Prelude in E major first, I must have been about 11 or 12
years old. When I was sixteen, the Sonata in g minor was added. Surely
the change over the years has been great. Apart from the fact that as a
child you usually still have a somewhat limited technique and world of
experience, I still came from the 'romantic' violin school. I remember
as a 16-year-old I thought someone like baroque violinist Sigiswald
Kuijken sounded ridiculous. Now I myself have moved much more in the
direction of authentic performance practice.'
Which musicians have you studied with to learn more about Bach's music?
'The first one who opened my ears more was recorder player Walter van
Hauwe. When I was about 20 years old, as someone who didn't think like a
string player, he showed me how there could be more fun and rhetoric in
Bach's music. He taught me that vibrato is not a given, but should be
put to useful use. That was an essential turning point. Around that
time, Rachel Podger also released her Sonatas & Partitas on CD,
which also gave a new perspective. But I still had a long way to go.
Some time later again, about ten or eleven years ago, I started playing
for Anner Bijlsma, which set everything in motion even more. 'Speaking'
in music now became much more the goal. His book on the Bach Senza Basso
has also given me incredible tools. You can get wonderfully lost in
certain details through it. Bijlsma sometimes goes very far in
interpreting every just-not-hundred-percent-finished bow in the
facsimile of the Sonatas & Partitas, but it creates even more
possibilities in the endless search. I also worked with baroque
violinist Lucy van Dael, which helped me too!'
'Authentic' sound
You call yourself a 'hybrid violinist'. Gradually you switched to a
baroque bow and perhaps gut strings. You also opt for an extra low
tuning. Why?
'A baroque bow helps with articulation and gives more manoeuvrability.
Such a bow is simply not made to facilitate only a long lilting line,
as the modern bow is more aimed at. Certain other aspects that fit
into a more 'authentic' style are also easier with a baroque bow. But it
certainly still happens that I do play Bach with a modern bow in
between. Getting the polyphony out of it is not necessarily a matter of
the bow; I have learned that this is something you have to know and hear
incredibly well yourself, only then are you able to pass it on to the
listener. I learned this from Sokolov, when I heard him play a Partita
by Bach in the Great Hall and the grand piano sounded so extremely in
stereo. I had never experienced anything like that before. That made me realise that it was the power of his inner ear - in addition to his incredible piano technique, of course. Thanks to Sololov's inner ear, it could be so bright !
In terms of tuning, there is no golden rule. Apparently, the organs in Köthen were tuned around 440, so it is not at all necessarily necessary to play at 415, but I do like it on my 'modern' tuned Guarneri to get extra relaxation in the sound with a low tuning. It helps me. At the moment, I don't play Bach exclusively on gut strings because I play too much other repertoire in between. In that case, low tuning gives me just that little bit of extra 'authentic' sound. In fact, over the years I have become very much a fan of the sound of gut.'
Ultimately, should Bach 'sing' or 'speak' or 'dance', and how do you feel about vibrato and other freedoms (rubato, region, accents, etc) ? Is there room for 'improvisation' ? And why do you play this music with Bach's original manuscript on your music stand ?
'There is certainly a 'singing' Bach, but in the Sonatas & Partitas, 'speaking' has become the most important thing for me. Apart from dancing, as far as the Partitas composed of dance parts are concerned. Vibrato, even in romantic or modern style, should be something we don't use on autopilot. That's actually the most important thing, that it always starts with the tone taken out of the instrument by the bow and then vibrato can augment that tone where necessary, as it were. For additional expression. Improvisation in the sense of adding embellishments to repetitions is certainly possible with Bach, there is absolutely room for that. The fact that I always play from the manuscript is due to Bijlsma, who said that it brings you closer to the man and his music. Also because Bach's music, as already indicated, is a treasure that keeps on giving, there is always something new to discover. I can't go back!'
Bach's secrets
You often talk about Bach's 'secrets' in this music. Can you give some examples of that ?
'This question relates to what Helga Thoene, among others, is concerned with. She thinks the Chaconne is an In Memoriam for Bach's first wife, who died while he was travelling. According to her, it contains allusions to chorales from his cantatas. I find it very interesting, but don't concern myself much with it.'
Bach said : 'The aim and deepest reason of every piece of music should be nothing but the glory of God and the purgation of the spirit. If you do not honour God with His music, music is only a devilish noise.' Do you experience the same way? Goethe said Bach's music sounds 'as if die ewige Harmonie sich mit sichselbst unterhielte.' Raphael Pichon says : 'I am religious because I believe in Bach.' What about you ?
'I'm of the Goethe movement ... Religion I don't find in it. As I perform Bach's Chaconne, I feel as though I am given a rare glimpse over the edge.'
How important is the order in which you play these pieces ? The last time I heard you you did a Sonata in three blocks and then a Partita ... Do you always do that?
'In 2013, the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ asked me to do the complete set, which would be in two evenings. It seemed an impossible task, although I said yes anyway ... In the preparation for it, I played the entire set twice in one evening and then I felt that this gave the most beautiful tension curve. Precisely in the order originally written down by Bach. The centre of gravity in the middle with Sonata in a minor and the Partita in d minor, with the Chaconne as the dramatic climax. Then the music moves towards the light again with the Sonata in C major and the Partita in E major. These really work as a catharsis. It's quite a tour de force, but somehow I experience that original tension arc with the pauses together with the audience as really very meaningful and nice. If I 'only' play a selection from the cycle, the ideal order is always a bit of a search. I still sometimes vary that. The movements are all equally dear to me in a way, although the first Partita is a bit of a crazy one, I find it so beautiful, somewhat sad or nostalgic but somehow it is always difficult for the audience, just too abstract apparently.'
Magisterial
Bach himself played the violin 'neatly and penetratingly' according to his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. He knew Biber and Von Westhoff, who wrote similar pieces for solo violin. Can you imagine what Bach must have sounded like in this music, which was soon known as the best school of learning for violinists ? Would he have seen the pieces as 'exercise' or more as an outlet for all his intelligence and emotion ?
'I don't know enough about that ... But I can hardly imagine that it was only exercise, although in the fugues he worked so masterfully in terms of voicing that it must have given him satisfaction on a technical composition level too!'
According to Helga Thoene, the Chaconne is full of chorale quotations. Others recognise all kinds of numerical relationships and others kabbalistic and mystical things in this music. Do you believe in it and do you engage with it ? Does it enrich your experience of the S&P ?
'I have Thoene's books. Fun to enjoy reading they are not, far too complicated. But the 'discovery' of the parallels with the chorales in the Chaconne is quite special. It substantiates the theory that Bach wrote the Chaconne as a requiem for his first wife. And the opportunity that has arisen, thanks to Thoene, to perform the Chaconne like this, with five singers added, is truly spectacular. I had the opportunity to do this with the Hilliard Ensemble in its last year of performance. I came upon it as a result of the Morimur CD they recorded with Christophe Poppen. I will never forget that experience ! I will always carry the sound of the singers with me when I play the Chaconne.'
This interview previously appeared in the magazine De Nieuwe Muze.
www.denieuwemuze.nl.