After Bach

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DescriptionExcerpt

After Bach comprises Brad Mehldau's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. "There have always been elements of Mehldau’s style that recall Bach," writes Timo Andres in the liner note. "After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."

Description

Brad Mehldau's After Bach is due March 9, 2018, on Nonesuch Records. The album comprises the pianist/composer's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. The album begins with Mehldau's own "Before Bach: Benediction" and ends with his "Prayer for Healing." 

As Mehldau's label mate Timo Andres says in his After Bach liner note, "As a professional organist, much of Bach's work took the form of improvisation, and during his lifetime it was the virtuosity and complexity of these improvisations for which he was most admired … Some three centuries after the fact, Brad Mehldau takes up this tradition and applies it to a frustratingly unknowable aspect of Bach's art."

Andres continues, "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach, especially his densely-woven voicing—but he's not striving to imitate or play dress-up. Rather, After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."

After Bach originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Brad Mehldau
Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Tom Lazarus
Recorded April 18–20, 2017, at Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA
Additional Mixing by Brian Montgomery
Piano Technician: Barbara Renner
Production Coordination: Tom Korkidis

Design by Evan Gaffney Design
Cover Photograph by Peter Marlow, 1991 © Peter Marlow/Magnum Photos
Portrait Photograph by Michael Wilson
Concert Photograph by David Bazemore

Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

Nonesuch Selection Number

565982

ns_album_releasedate
Album Status
Artist Name
Brad Mehldau
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Brad Mehldau, piano

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597931730
Label
MP3
Price
11.00
UPC
075597931792
Label
FLAC
Price
12.00
UPC
075597931754
Label
96/24 HD FLAC
Price
13.00
UPC
075597931778
  • 565982

News & Reviews

  • Brad Mehldau has shared new videos filmed at the Village Vanguard in New York City in which he discusses and performs from his latest albums, After Bach II and Après Fauré, which were released on Nonesuch this past May. On the former, he performs some improvised variations on Bach's Goldberg theme, as he does on After Bach II, and on the latter, he discusses the impact of Fauré's final nocturne, no. 13, and performs his own piece Après Fauré No. 4: Vision. You can watch both here.

  • In celebration of Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, the label has partnered with photographer Michael Wilson—who has exquisitely captured dozens of Nonesuch artists over the past quarter-century—to produce Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection, an extremely limited quantity of 100 box sets containing newly created prints from his Nonesuch archive, out now. You can take a quick look inside here. Designed by the Grammy-winning team at SMOG Design, each box comprises twenty 12" x 12" prints, numbered and signed by the photographer. Artists featured are Allen Toussaint, Ambrose Akinmusire, Audra McDonald, Bill Frisell, The Black Keys, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Rzewski, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket, Steve Reich, and Timo Andres, who wrote a note for the box.

  • About This Album

    Brad Mehldau's After Bach is due March 9, 2018, on Nonesuch Records. The album comprises the pianist/composer's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by its WTC mate. The album begins with Mehldau's own "Before Bach: Benediction" and ends with his "Prayer for Healing." 

    As Mehldau's label mate Timo Andres says in his After Bach liner note, "As a professional organist, much of Bach's work took the form of improvisation, and during his lifetime it was the virtuosity and complexity of these improvisations for which he was most admired … Some three centuries after the fact, Brad Mehldau takes up this tradition and applies it to a frustratingly unknowable aspect of Bach's art."

    Andres continues, "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach, especially his densely-woven voicing—but he's not striving to imitate or play dress-up. Rather, After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."

    After Bach originated in a work Mehldau first performed in 2015—commissioned by Carnegie Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, The National Concert Hall, and Wigmore Hall—called Three Pieces After Bach.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Brad Mehldau, piano

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Brad Mehldau
    Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Tom Lazarus
    Recorded April 18–20, 2017, at Mechanics Hall, Worcester, MA
    Additional Mixing by Brian Montgomery
    Piano Technician: Barbara Renner
    Production Coordination: Tom Korkidis

    Design by Evan Gaffney Design
    Cover Photograph by Peter Marlow, 1991 © Peter Marlow/Magnum Photos
    Portrait Photograph by Michael Wilson
    Concert Photograph by David Bazemore

    Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

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