French Suites-Js Bach Poem by michael spangenberg

\The mesmerizing movements of the Allemande, Courante, Sarabande,
Menuet I/II, Gigue- Perahia threw himself into everything with a ferocious concentration. The opening left-hand leap to the fugue's landing on a triumphant final cadence 40 minutes later felt like a single gesture, a life passing by during a fall and safe landing off a cliff. The epic Adagio was exceptional. Beethoven is in a black mood, Mozart taken for a ride, Bach marrying melancholy and joy in his French suites, for lovers dancing the tango of their broken lives, The twisted harmonies and endless melodic lines keep shifting, trying to go one way and then the next, never finding resolution or solace. For Perahia this was inescapable pain, but not to be dwelt upon. His ability to find the life in each note proved intensely moving.

Murray Perahia was born in the Bronx borough of New York City to a family of Sephardi Jewish origin.Perahia began studying the piano at age four with a teacher he says was 'very limiting' because she made him play a single piece until it was perfect.

In 1990, Perahia suffered a cut to his right thumb, which became septic. He took antibiotics for this condition, but they affected his health. In 1992, his career was threatened by a bone abnormality in his hand causing inflammation requiring several years away from the keyboard, and a series of operations. During that time, he says, he found solace through studying the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, particularly but not exclusively his extraordinary French Suites.

Perahia has always felt a great affinity with the music of Bach, having played some of his pieces since childhood and been powerfully influenced by a performance he attended at the age of fifteen of the St Matthew Passion conducted by Pablo Casals. He also found solace in studying the composer on a daily basis during a period in which illness prevented him from playing.

He sees the French Suites as "Bach on the highest level", adding, "I don't think Bach wrote one note that didn't have wider meanings and that wasn't to be tackled with all one's heart and soul." His recording revels in the music's diverse moods, from melancholy tenderness to out-and-out joy, and brings out every nuance of its elegant phrasing and expressive dance rhythms.

After recovering, he produced a series of award-winning recordings of Bach's keyboard works in the late 1990s, most notably a cornerstone rendition of the Goldberg Variations.

In autumn of 2007, he completed a triumphant 10-city tour of the United States, His love for music trumped fear-of-physical-pain, personal resilience's eclipsing pure despair, the Perahia version of the French Suites is nothing less than a victorious claim of the everlasting human spirit, evermore-

Footnote-Credit where credit's due: The Open Encyclopedia, article on Murray Perahia, and LA Times after witnessing a live performance.