It must have been early 2000. Whether it was February or March, pianist HannesMinnaar does not remember, but he does know that he was just 15 when hewatched an episode of the documentary series on television. Of the beauty andthe comfort saw. Wim Kayzer asked 26 artists, scientists and philosopherswhat makes life worth living. Minnaar saw the episode with pianist VladimirAshkenazy. At the very end of the episode, Ashkenazy plays a piece of music:the ‘fugue in C minor’, from the 24 Preludes and Fugues by DmitriShostakovich. Lover was totally upside down.
At home in Nederhorst den Berg, in his study with two grand pianos, he walksto the cupboard with sheet music and takes out a tattered bundle. Minnaar: “Iwalked into the sheet music store Broekmans & Van Poppel in Amsterdam andbought Book 2 with all my birthday money, which contains that fugue.” He looksfor the sticker. “Oh, here: 58.80 guilders.” Minnaar was still tooinexperienced to play everything. To still hear what it sounded like, heentered some pieces note by note into a computer program, which then playedthem to him in computer sound. Now, 22 years later, he can. The proof is on arecently released CD, and can be heard live on Tuesday at the Chamber MusicFestival Schiermonnikoog.
24 Preludes and Fugues
The idea of form for 24 Preludes and Fugues comes from Bach. At thebeginning of the 18th century he composed Das wohltemperierte Klavier: twobooks containing 24 sets of a prelude and a fugue, all in a different key, sothat all 12 keys in major and minor are sounded once. Chopin did the sameabout a hundred years later with 24 preludes (opus 28), and Shostakovichanother hundred years later, around 1950, so too.
two and a half hours
He puts the bundle on the lectern and plays some parts, looking for all thecorners that Shostakovich put in it. The sunny A major fugue: „Tiedeliedelie,look, he is experimenting with a melody with only the notes from the A chord.”D-major: “Very magical.” All the more, that the computer used to play for him:”Seems just as happy, but it’s much more forced, much more cynical.” TheE-flat major fugue: „Which I couldn’t understand. What does he want with sucha theme? Until I heard it’s gruff and gruff, evil.” And the ‘tragic prelude inG-sharp minor, because towards the end a hopeful note escapes for a moment,which seems to dissolve everything, but which then falls down anyway. Sohopeless.”
All 24 preludes and fugues , that’s about two and a half hours of music. Herecorded the CD in two times three recording days with about six months inbetween. He has never performed the work in front of an audience in oneevening. Fortunately, Minnaar has toured with Bach’s Goldberg Variations(for that CD he won his second Edison two weeks ago), together 80 minutes. Inretrospect, Minnaar calls that a good training. Spiritually, that is. “It’s noproblem for the fingers, play for two and a half hours. No, it’s hard on theconcentration.” Isn’t he worried about that jump from 80 minutes to 150? “Notreally. It’s on a break!”
The music Minnaar played:
Statement
Nor is it easy for the public, Minnaar admits. Although that is not so muchbecause of the length, but because of the character of the music: sad, lonely,isolated. It was not for nothing that Minnaar’s idea came to throw himself atShostakovich in a coronalockdown. Yes, there are those sunny parts; cheerful,exuberant, even comforting. But they are becoming more and more frugal. “Bach,however profound, is full of hope. Even where he is deeply lamenting, it isnever hopeless. Shostakovich is hopeless. His minor fugues are the longest.Slowly the heavy stamp begins to gain the upper hand. If you listen to this,you will be defeated.” Why does he want to do that to his audience? “Becauseyou can really disappear into it. It’s great, it’s imposing, impressive,deeply human. The world is miserable. Sometimes you can say that in theconcert hall too.”
Minnaar starts talking about it himself, suddenly pained: „I have scratched myhead. A year ago I was just studying an amazing masterpiece. But now… Whatkind of statement are you making playing Russian music? Do people actuallywant to hear that? You can come up with all sorts of ways out: thatShostakovich himself suffered under the Soviet regime is very true. But on theother hand: he has bowed, he has made knee drops. His music is always inrelation to political rulers, much more than the music of other composers.What that means is a matter of interpretation. Sure, the triumph over theregime in his music is full of irony. He does not support the regime. But itis going too far for me to say that Shostakovich made a caricature of theSoviet Union.”
muscle language
Lover seems to really care. “However you look at it, it suddenly makes thismusic hyper-actual.” He plays the prelude in G major. “Listen: this is musclelanguage. This is where I now hear Putin’s Russia in.” For Minnaar personally,however, the story behind the music matters less. “I always look for thefeeling of that 15-year-old me who heard the music on TV and bought the sheetmusic to study it. I was also completely captivated, not knowing anythingabout Shostakovich. Sometimes music just has to be music.”
Hannes Minnaar plays Shostakovich ‘ 24 Preludes and Fugues Tuesdayat the Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog, 14/10 in the MuziekgebouwAmsterdam and 16/10 in Concert Hall Tilburg. Inl: hannesminnaar.com