Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Leigh Howard Stevens, marimba 7] gc [2] Prelude and Fugue in B-flat Major (W-T.C. vol.l, No. 21) (1:2 Two-Part Inventions: ED € Major (1:23) 4] Minor (:59) ©) B-fat Major (1:41) *] F Major (1:06) [2] Prelude in G Minor (1:21) ©] Chorale: Christ lag in Todesbanden (Riemenschneider No.371) (3:38) Sonata in A Minor, S. 1001 L2} Adagio (4:17) D9] Fuga (5:46) U1} Siciliano (2:12) Presto (3:55) Sonata in B Minor, S. 1003 £5] Grave (4:25) 1] Fuga (7:16) 15] Andante (4:30) US} Allegro (3:15)These ase several aspects of this Bach secording that make it special, che most obvious of which of course, is the instrument on which the music is performed. Since the marimba didn't even have a concerso written for ix until Pasal Ceeston’s 1935 “Concertino” (there are now almost 50%), it is sur- prising 10 kearn thas it is one of the world’s oldest melodic instruments. Examples of marimba and sylophone type instruments have been found in the burial tombs of Egypt dating from 3000 B.C. Ancient though ix is, Exsopean composers of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods didn’t even know of ic 2 fas as we can tell. The marimba leapt over Europe from its origins in Africa and the Far East, and dida't arrive on the continent uncil after making an appearance in the United Seases around dhe turn of the century. Like so many other immigrants, the marimba was born else- where, but bred in America. Some of the most significant advancements in marimba playing — the “breeding” of the tech- sique, if you will — have come in the past ewenty years, and many of these developments have been the cxcation of Leigh Howard Stevens: sustaining notes with one hand (a “one-handed roll”), a special way of holding the mallers that allows an astounding degree of separation of polyphonic vwoiass, and a system of sticking that keeps each voice assigned to a different mallet (cach mallee is made to sound different by variations in the way the mallets are constructed). These are just some of the new tricks of the marimbist’s trade that arc synonymous with Leigh Howard Stevens’ musi- ‘While the marimba was probably not known in Europe at the time that J. S. Bach was composing the works sepresented on this album (it was probably working its way over to Central and South ‘America with the slave trade), there are several facets of the marimba’s tone and Stevens’ manner of playing that make it an ideal “nco-baroque” instrument. In particular, the ring time of the bars and the darity of articulation make it so. No matter how well suited the marimba is for baroque snusic, there are still chose who consider the very idea of transcription sacreligious. A distinction must be made, however, between an arrangement and a transcription. “The word arrangement automatically confesses that changes have been made — notes added to make chords “fuller”, harmonics “jazzed up”, or even sections deleted. Serious musicians and listeners can justi- 2fably cringe at the lengths certain performers wll go v0 10 ies a oa more “accessible” (read aera) A transcription however, implies a certain faithfulness othe original. There ate of saree many diflerenc opinions of what constitutes “faithfulness”. There ate those performers why profess to being wholly concerned with the overall spiri of a work, and others who feverishly conn pare minute pen stokes in different versions of the manuscript 2” to an experienced ear is actually more accurate, For instance Sometimes what sounds “wron; d long compared to what one is used to in a violin ‘some of the note values in the Sonatas may souni performance. The fact i, that the violin can not sustain to their full value che three and four nor hords that Bach wrote. At least in the hands of this artist, the marimba is able to do this. ‘The us sf different mallet types for each voice in the violin Fugues, crystalizes the counterpoint in a way that even the finest fiddler can not hope to achieve. So in some sense, we are hearing things more tely” (and therefore more “faithfully".2) in transcription, than in the original form “acura On the other hand, a note is missing from one of the four Tivo Part Inventions — a concession tw marimbistic practicality in order to avoid taking a whole passage up an octave. Ifthe listener i intimately familiar with these pices from childhood piano lessons, the missing note might even he spotted. Perhaps the least accurate ofthe transcriptions is the Chorale Christ lag in Voxleshanden because one element is missing altogether: the sung text. It can be argued however, that these works stand securely on their own solely on the basis of their profound harmonic weight It should be emphasized that much of the music on this album could never have been attempted by a single marimbist until che development of Stevens’ new approach to four mallet technique, In fact, the Two Part Inventions are published in a marimba edition by a respected music publisher as duets! This album is not one of those “switched on” Bach technological feats where the artist lay ers on many simple lines, one track at a time. In this case, that was not necessary, ay can be attested to by the thousands who have heard Leigh Howard Stevens perform these works live in concert halls throughout the world.