Arthur Erickson: A life in architecture
July 4th, 2009
Zaha Hadid meets Bach and Anderszewski – and it works
July 4th, 2009
Piotr Anderszewski's amazing performance of solo Bach in Zaha Hadid's installation for the Manchester international festival was a wonder
Last night it was the first of the evening concerts in the Zaha Hadid installation created for the music of Bach within the Manchester Art Gallery (part, needless to say, of the Manchester international festival). I was intrigued to see how it would work out, after interviewing Hadid and visiting the space as it was being created (and indeed reading Tom Service's enlightening addendum about other temporary installations specially created for classical music performance).
And it was great. I haven't heard Anderszewski's recordings of the Bach partitas (though now I think I should). His playing was simultaneously rigorous (tempi not too messed-around with) and astoundingly risk-taking (the pianissimos in the Sarabande of the C minor partita were so exquisitely quiet I don't think anyone in the room breathed as he barely brushed the keys; whereas the Corrente of the Partita No 6 in E minor went off at such a dizzying pace that I think we all forgot to breathe again). For me, something amazing happened in the small, intimate, 192-seat space where we were listening to all this. Sitting so close to him, seeing his gaze, feeling his concentration, it was almost as if he created another space within Hadid's space – a kind of mental air pocket in which, as an audience member, I felt completely bound together in his intellectual, emotional and physical labour. I suspect others had a sense of this amazing connection, too: it was certainly the least cough-ridden recital I've been to for a long time.
Hadid had been clear from the start that there was no linear link between the music and the installation. Her work exists in the world of abstract forms. But listening to the music and experiencing the space, one did feel a sense of connection between the lightness of Hadid's enclosure – created by one long ribbon motif constructed from fabric and winding through the rectangular gallery space – and the airborne virtuosity of Bach's music.
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