Album brings Baroque Bach

Harpsichord player and organist Jiang Yushan revisits the composer's rarely performed pieces for keyboards, Chen Nan reports.

Often eliciting curiosity from audiences, the appearance of Jiang Yushan's harpsichord is usually met with comments like "it looks different from piano", and, "the keyboard looks strange with the inverted black and white keys".

For Jiang, the curiosity opens a door to new audiences that also discover the harpsichord is a joy to listen to.

On Dec 9, Jiang released his new album, Johann Sebastian Bach: Works for Harpsichord, featuring seven musical works by Bach, his favorite composer of the Baroque era.

Bach was a master in the art of composing fugues. On his new album, Jiang recorded Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903, and Prelude and Fugue in A Major, BWV 896.

Jiang adds that two of the music pieces on the new album are very special: Suite in E Minor, BWV 996 and Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-Flat Major, BWV 998, since they were written by Bach for lute.

He once considered recording an album featuring only Bach's early musical works. However, due to Jiang's love for Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-Flat Major, BWV 998, which was composed by Bach during his final years, he was keen to include it on the new album.

"When I prepared for this album, I tried to select works written throughout the composer's life, from different eras and in different styles, which were rarely performed," says Jiang, 34.

"When I compare those pieces, I realize that though they come from different eras and have been written with different techniques in mind, they all speak for the composer. He is mysterious and both he and his music intrigue me very much."

Jiang's relationship with Bach is a deep one.