How refreshing it is to hear young artists with both the technical and musical gifts to produce fulfilling recordings of Bach. What's even more enjoyable is to have these Bach recordings coupled in an intelligent manner with works by other composers. Such is the case with this album of
David Theodor Schmidt. Opening with the Bach Partita No. 6 in E minor,
Schmidt demonstrates his intimate knowledge of the score through his exceptionally clear voicing, precise ornamentation, and relaxed, steady tempos. The album continues with the Prelude and Fugue No. 22 from the Well-Tempered Klavier.
Schmidt's fugue is a little rigid, one of the only times on the album where this occurs. The remainder of the album is devoted to two of the many composers greatly influenced by Bach:
Shostakovich and Liszt.
Schmidt's treatment of the
Shostakovich Prelude & Fugue in D minor, Op. 87/24, greatly resembles the enjoyable qualities found in his Bach. The fugue here is much more liquid and flowing. The album closes with Liszt's Variations on a Motif by Bach, an infrequently heard work filled with both darkness and religious comfort.
Schmidt is easily able to handle the more overt technical demands of this work, bringing forth its emotional content rather than virtuosic bravura.