Exploring Music: We Should All Own This Recording
Robert Maxwell Stern
The MHS Review 379 Vol. 11, NO. 1 • 1987
J.S. Bach was pretty much of a liberal, or so it seems, when it came to the question of which instrument to apply to a given piece of his music; in many cases Bach didn't indicate precisely which instrument was to be used. We all know his vocal music is indeed that because there are words which aren't instructions written under the notes. I suppose he felt that if an instrument could handle it, that instrument had every right to play it. As a matter of fact, in most cases, the first thing a musician will do when confronted with a new instrument is play. Bach. In like manner, when an "alternative" instrument, for example the marimba, is put before the public to show its stuff, Bach will be the most likely candidate for demonstrative purposes. This has left poor J.S. open to much experimentation through the years.
I approached this MHS release with a great deal of skepticism. I felt that a marimba is foreign to Bach. I put on the tape anyway, sat, and listened. My immediate reaction was amusement. I smiled at the contrast of the familiar B-flat Prelude and Fugue with the unfamiliar, short-release percussive tone of the marimba. My next thought was, : 'This guy is very good."
I heard very powerful and long-release bass on this instrument, yet I had always understood that the marimba was a pedal-less xylophone-style item. I had to go to Grove. I found the marimba: " ... a large table-like frame ... five or six feet in length ... graduated strips of seasoned wood ... below each of these is fixed an oblong cedar box equally graduated in size. The box, which serves as a resonator, is entirely closed except at the top, but has a small hole covered with thin bladder at the lower end." It's a five-octave job, and when played, requires soft-headed mallets. 'These mysterious oblong boxes reveal the secret sonority of the bass.
The amazement comes along with the Chorale (sans chorus), Which displays true organ-like tones. Mr. Stevens displays great virtuosity here with a technique he created: ''the one-handed roll." It's a very special way of manipulating the mallets which allows an astounding degree of separation of polyphonic voices by keeping each voice assigned to a different mallet. Each mallet (two in each hand) is controlled independently, thereby ·creating smooth vo1cmg, truly an unbelievable technique. By controlling the volume, expression, and temporal aspects of the mallets in this way, the magical sonic blur created so thrillingly by an organ is truly proved to be possible on the marimba. The most important thing to remember about this release is that the Bach pieces here are transcriptions for the instrument.
My apologies go to this superb MHS release for thinking the worst. My apologies also go to Leigh Howard Stevens, world's foremost marimbist, for thinking his virtuosic instrument capable of nothing other than Mexican folk music. I apologize to J.S. Bach as well for doubting his adaptability and talent to assimilate. We should all own this release for several reasons: it's an album of true virtuoso performances; it reveals something wonderful about the marimba formerly privy to very few; it's a sit-down-and-listen-to record demanding great consideration.
Review of A Baroque Master on Marimba: Bach pg 25
J.S. Bach was pretty much of a liberal, or so it seems, when it came to the question of which instrument to apply to a given piece of his music; in many cases Bach didn't indicate precisely which instrument was to be used. We all know his vocal music is indeed that because there are words which aren't instructions written under the notes. I suppose he felt that if an instrument could handle it, that instrument had every right to play it. As a matter of fact, in most cases, the first thing a musician will do when confronted with a new instrument is play. Bach. In like manner, when an "alternative" instrument, for example the marimba, is put before the public to show its stuff, Bach will be the most likely candidate for demonstrative purposes. This has left poor J.S. open to much experimentation through the years.
I approached this MHS release with a great deal of skepticism. I felt that a marimba is foreign to Bach. I put on the tape anyway, sat, and listened. My immediate reaction was amusement. I smiled at the contrast of the familiar B-flat Prelude and Fugue with the unfamiliar, short-release percussive tone of the marimba. My next thought was, : 'This guy is very good."
I heard very powerful and long-release bass on this instrument, yet I had always understood that the marimba was a pedal-less xylophone-style item. I had to go to Grove. I found the marimba: " ... a large table-like frame ... five or six feet in length ... graduated strips of seasoned wood ... below each of these is fixed an oblong cedar box equally graduated in size. The box, which serves as a resonator, is entirely closed except at the top, but has a small hole covered with thin bladder at the lower end." It's a five-octave job, and when played, requires soft-headed mallets. 'These mysterious oblong boxes reveal the secret sonority of the bass.
The amazement comes along with the Chorale (sans chorus), Which displays true organ-like tones. Mr. Stevens displays great virtuosity here with a technique he created: ''the one-handed roll." It's a very special way of manipulating the mallets which allows an astounding degree of separation of polyphonic voices by keeping each voice assigned to a different mallet. Each mallet (two in each hand) is controlled independently, thereby ·creating smooth vo1cmg, truly an unbelievable technique. By controlling the volume, expression, and temporal aspects of the mallets in this way, the magical sonic blur created so thrillingly by an organ is truly proved to be possible on the marimba. The most important thing to remember about this release is that the Bach pieces here are transcriptions for the instrument.
My apologies go to this superb MHS release for thinking the worst. My apologies also go to Leigh Howard Stevens, world's foremost marimbist, for thinking his virtuosic instrument capable of nothing other than Mexican folk music. I apologize to J.S. Bach as well for doubting his adaptability and talent to assimilate. We should all own this release for several reasons: it's an album of true virtuoso performances; it reveals something wonderful about the marimba formerly privy to very few; it's a sit-down-and-listen-to record demanding great consideration.
Review of A Baroque Master on Marimba: Bach pg 25