Sasha Pfeiffer, Host:
If you’re a pianist, or have taken piano lessons, you may be familiar with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Two-Part Invention.
(Soundbite of “Invention No. 1” by Johann Sebastian Bach)
Pfeiffer: Pianist and composer Dan Toepfer says this short piece is in the bloodstream of many young pianists.
Dan Tefer: These inventions really shaped the way anyone could play the piano. It looks very simple, but the music is very deep and a great way to introduce children to the best of music.
Pfeiffer: Bach wrote these etudes for a total of 15 major and minor keys out of the 24 available keys. So Toepfer improvised the missing key.
(music sound bite)
Pfeiffer: His reinvention can be heard on the new album “Inventions/Reinventions” out today. Dan Toepfer told me that he thinks music tells stories.
Tefer: In the classical narrative structure, there is a protagonist, a hero or heroine, who follows a journey or story. And then something happens that throws them into a world of confusion and the unknown. Act 2 puts the protagonist on a series of tests or a journey of sorts. In the third act, the hero usually returns home. And this is exactly what Bach does in “Invention”. And I was so struck by that that I asked myself if I could improvise freely and tell stories according to the same principles.
Pfeiffer: So many people think of a story or a hero as a piece of writing or a book, but we find the equivalent in music.
Toepfer: Of course. For example, the first invention would be da, da, da, da, do, di, do.
(music sound bite)
Toepfer: That’s our character. And we are constantly re-exposed to the same characters and start getting to know them.
(music sound bite)
Toepfer: And Bach turns the character upside down. Ba-da-do-do-da-do-da-da.
(music sound bite)
Toepfer: So what we’re looking at are different aspects of this character. It’s the same way writers make characters more than two-dimensional in plays and movies.
(music sound bite)
Pfeiffer: Dan, the best way for our listeners to understand what you’ve done is to hear it. Do you have a specific description that you feel would best describe what you did or approach?
Toepfer: Of course. For example, if you listen to my first improvisation in D flat major…
(Soundbite for Dan Toepfer’s “Impromptu Invention in D flat major”)
Tefer: …I came up with a theme. Ba-da-da-da-do-do-da.
(Soundbite for Dan Toepfer’s “Impromptu Invention in D flat major”)
Toepfer: That’s my personality. This is the protagonist of the story I am about to tell, and suddenly we find ourselves in a new lock.
(Soundbite for Dan Toepfer’s “Impromptu Invention in D flat major”)
TEPFER: For example, there is a really bittersweet sweetness in the minor key. If you tell a story, our characters may experience moments of loss or face deep emotional reflection. But after all, it’s time to go home. And come back as gracefully as possible.
(Soundbite for Dan Toepfer’s “Impromptu Invention in D flat major”)
Pfeiffer: Some of what you’ve done is almost jazzy, blending jazz and classical music. Is that what you were aiming for?
Toepfer: I aim not to be myself, to converse with Bach, to play on his lawn, but to exploit his ideas on my lawn. I think that would be a good conversation. I’m a jazz musician. I grew up with jazz. All my approaches to improvisation come from jazz. So if there are moments that sound jazzy, it’s because I have quite a bit of jazz in me.
(music sound bite)
Pfeiffer: Songs in minor keys often sound less cheerful and more dissonant, of course. On the contrary, some of your music actually thumped your head and feet along with it. One might think that you would expect that from poppy music. Do you want your listeners to think differently about what classical music is when you’re improvising?
Tefer: I’m not trying to get the listener to do anything. I’m just trying to express myself. On the other hand, one of the things I love about Bach is that he is able to bring genuine joy to his music. And it never feels corny or silly or superficial to me when I listen to it. I say that pleasure is wholly earned and wholly owned.
(music sound bite)
TEPFER: I think it’s been a challenge for me, it’s bringing genuine joy to my music. I think there’s a tendency in jazz to want to act cool, to not hide one’s heart and to be embarrassed to do so. And really, one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about this project is searching for that feeling of joy and not running away from it. So whether I’m dealing with Bach’s music, my own music, or my colleague’s music, it all comes down to the same thing. In other words, can I be myself? today?
(music sound bite)
Pfeiffer: What do you think Bach would think of you filling in the blanks in his work?
Teffer: I mean, he hesitates even to use the word to fill in the blanks in his work. In fact, nothing is incomplete in an “invention”. The important thing to remember here is that Bach was most famous as an improviser during his lifetime. In fact, people came from all over Europe to hear Bach improvise. It was after his death that he became most famous as a composer. Improvisation was, in short, the very core of Bach’s existence. And the fact that, 300 years after he wrote these works, someone is, in his own way, trying to address the abstract concepts underpinning Bach’s work, is at least intriguing, and perhaps I hope it inspires you.
Pfeiffer: Pianist and composer Dan Toepfer. His new album “Inventions/Reinventions” is out today. Dan, thank you. And I loved listening to this album.
Tefer: Oh, thank you very much.
(music sound bite)
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