(ré)inventions à Deux Pianos

JS Bach: 15 two-part inventions (arr. Chiahu Lee)

Yulia Vershinina-mukhopadhyay, Chiahu Lee (pianos)

Divine Art DDV24172 28 mins

Bach was explicit about his motivation in composing the two-part Inventions. They were to encourage the ability to play in two parts clearly, to cultivate a cantabile style, and to stimulate a taste for composition. The Vershinina/lee duo has certainly taken him at his word. Their counterpoint is lucidly articulated; their cantabile, compelling; and Chiahu Lee has picked up the compositional gauntlet by expanding the originals to four hands, two keyboards and, most radically, deploying a style that leans on ‘pop, minimalism, and smooth jazz’. Then again, upscaling Bach is in the DNA. The duo made its debut playing Rheinberger’s arrangement of the Goldberg Variations – to which (ré)inventions à Deux Pianos is perhaps a full-on, funky postscript.

The C major emerges as a kaleidoscopic concatenation of notes pulsating with glittering energy, a shimmering toccata enveloping Bach’s original, while the C minor affords a sumptuous, thoughtful contrast. Perching itself on a cocktail bar stool, the D minor Invention sagely watches the world go by, and it’s followed by the quivering bundle of artful joy that is its E flat sibling. Occasionally Chiahu

Lee backs her reimagining into a harmonic corner from which the only escape is a tad clunky, and an easy reliance on pedal notes can sometimes seem like an imaginative shortcut; there’s a deal of fertile re-invention to ambush the ear. Pearly arabesques lend a swirl of luxury to the potentially austere E major Invention; the G minor entices an unexpected tattoo of percussion effects, while the B flat dances on a pinhead. All in all, an invigorating and beguiling spring clean for the ears!

PERFORMANCE ★★★★

RECORDING ★★★★