Abramovic and Stillman at Bach Festival

Baroque music on modern instruments:
It takes a special talent

TOM PURDOM

The period instrument movement is based on the idea that (1) Baroque and Renaissance composers wrote for the instruments actually used in their day and (2) their music sounds best when it’s played on instruments that have the strengths and weaknesses they had in mind when they composed it. Generally speaking, that reasoning makes sense. But musicians can play some Baroque works on modern instruments if they understand the need to make adjustments.

Charles Abramovic quieted most of my biases in favor of historical instruments when he accompanied Mimi Stillman’s performance of Bach’s works for solo flute during the Bach Festival. Abramovic accompanied Stillman on the piano, rather than the historically correct harpsichord— an instrument that creates a critically different type of sound, in spite of its superficial resemblance to its successor. The modern grand piano is a percussion instrument that hammers heavy, high-tension strings. The harpsichord is a plucking instrument rigged with light, low-tension strings.

Let the fingers provide the musclepower

Abramovic discussed some of the issues involved in the switch to modern instruments during the concert. When he played, he made several adjustments that helped him compensate for the difference: The piano lid, for example, was set at its lowest level, in recognition of the enormous volume the modern piano commands, compared to the harpsichord. Abramovic’s hands traveled across the keys with a light-fingered, high-speed touch that captured most of the rippling rush of the harpsichord, even if it couldn’t reproduce the twang of a plucked instrument. That kind of speed comes naturally on the harpsichord, with its lighter action, but I would assume it takes extra effort on the piano.

It looked to me as if Abramovic was even reproducing the harpsichordist’s stance. Pianists can exercise their arms and shoulders— the harder you bang, the louder the sound— but on a harpsichord, the extra pressure usually produces broken strings, with no increase in volume. Abramovic sat at the piano with his elbows, wrists and hands level and let his fingers provide all the muscle power, just as Couperin advised in his text on the harpsichord.

Not coasting on her youth

Mimi Stillman was the youngest wind student ever accepted at Curtis when she entered the school at age 12 in 1994. She could have glided along on that line in her resumé for some time, but fortunately she hasn’t. Stillman keeps developing technically and artistically. Other flutists may play these pieces as well, but I doubt that anyone could have played them better.

The recital was something of a tour de force. Stillman elected to play all of Bach’s works for solo flute, accompanied and unaccompanied. She played nine pieces altogether, which meant she was blowing and fingering for more than two hours, including short breaks that she and Abramovic frequently filled with comments.

Competition from a disco

In addition to functioning as Mimi Stillman’s regular partner, Abramovic is one of Philadelphia’s major talents: a pianist with an international career as soloist and accompanist. I won’t make a fuss about the instrumentation when music of this quality is played by musicians of this caliber, with a full understanding of the issues raised by modern instruments.

The concert ended with a display of good old-fashioned fortitude. Due to a scheduling fumble, a disco in the church basement erupted about two minutes before the end. I’m not exaggerating when I say the outburst shook the building. Stillman and Abramovic played on through the artillery fire and managed to keep Bach alive despite the assault from the lower depths. I may waver now and then in my support of the harpsichord over the piano, but I’ll never alter my belief that amplified music proves conclusively that change and progress are not necessarily synonymous.