Bach Stage

Album review

“Bach is music for life, you can never have had enough of it!” This heartful cry from Francesco Tristano takes on its full meaning in Bach Stage, which includes Bach’s keyboard concertos. It is based on the very first disc recorded by the Luxembourg pianist two decades earlier, along with the New Bach Players ensemble. In this 2023 version, released by the recently founded and promising Scala Music label, Francisco Tristano has come together with the conductor Léo Margue and the Bach Stage Ensemble, convened especially for this occasion. Staying true to his reputation as a free thinker as well as his bold predisposition to shattering the boundaries between genres, Tristano performs these concertos here with refreshing instrumentation reduced to its most essential driving forces: energetic tempos, minimalized double basses, musicians playing standing up. Another big surprise is the inclusion of new cadenzas, written for the occasion by three contemporary composers, Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier, Miharu Ogura and Tristano himself! Skilfully avoiding the crude pitfall of "contemporary chic/baroque shock", this new recording delivers a refined update of Bach's work. We’ll admit (not just for flattery) that Tristano’s part is the best, taking a gamble on the emotion provided by the soothing extension of Japanese harmonies. This magnificent recording has entirely seduced us with its great freedom of tone and its green freshness, which proves once again - as if proof were needed - that Bach's music, far from all austerity, is an ever present escapism. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz