MURRAY PERAHIA

The legendary pianist tells REBECCA FRANKS why the music of JS Bach remains his daily bread

In your Bach journey on disc, you’ve now reached the French Suites. How do they compare to his other keyboard works?

They are in a different style to the English Suites and the keyboard Partitas. They are less virtuosic, very tender and rather delicate. A lot of the voice-leading is in two or three parts, like the inventions or sinfonias, so they are not as brilliant in the obvious sense as the other pieces I have recorded. But I find them full of love and sensitivity. Bach gave them as a present to his wife at some point, I think – they are, bar the Sixth Suite, in the Anna Magdalena Notebook. There’s that tenderness to them.

What does playing Bach on the piano bring to the music?

For two years solidly I worked on the harpsichord, which was a great experience. But I sort of wanted them to sound contemporary, in a strange way. I wanted the idiom not to overpower the message. The message for me is very important. And the message is through the counterpoint, the harmony, understanding how direction is achieved in the music, and subtle interplays of rhythm. Of course that’s possible on a harpsichord, but because of the dynamic contrasts you can get on the piano you can make some of the structural points clearer. I did use the sustaining pedal a bit as I think the piano sounds better with it.

What place does Bach occupy in your life?

Central. There’s hardly a day goes by that I’m not listening to it. I always find it so beautiful. Just the other day I had concerts where I wasn’t playing Bach, but just before I immersed myself in some Bach cantatas. I find it so inexplicably beautiful.

Do you have any plans to record The Well-tempered Clavier? That’s always a dream! But I don’t know. I hope so.