Bach

I was at a piano recital this afternoon (yes, I susprised you, didn't I!), a very intimate affair, and the first thing the guy played sounded very much like Bach but also in a funny way wasn't Bach, there was something a little not-exactly-18th-century about some of the harmonies, but it was very compelling. Anyway, the pianist said it was Bach.

I tackled him at the interval and said how much I loved the Bach piece and how it surprised me because it had a harmonic richness that you wouldn't normally expect in Bach (and yes, I was aware as I was saying it how cringe-inducing the phrase 'harmonic richness' is). He said yes, Bach does have this great emotional density and whatnot, but then said that he had, in fact, put in a few extra notes. Well you can imagine how chuffed I was to hear that - I'd sort of picked it. Whatta stud! On an amusing trivia note, the pianist was the guy whose hands were playing the Rachmaninoff in 'Shine' when Geoffrey Rush was at the piano. Not that I saw the movie, of course.