Boston Classical Review

Pierre-Laurent Aimard performed Book II of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Friday night at Jordan Hall, presented by Vivo Performing Arts. Photo: Marco Borggreve

Pierre-Laurent Aimard released a well-received recording of Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier in 2014 on DG. The celebrated pianist has finally followed that up with Book II (this time for Pentatone, his current label),and Aimard made his belated Boston recital debut Friday night at Jordan Hall with the complete WTC Book II, an event presented by Vivo Performing Arts.

There are few greater technical and interpretive challenges than playing either set of these 24 Preludes and Fugues straight through in a single evening.

Aimard is not the kind of Bach player that tries to charm or seduce, a la, say Vikingur Olafsson who takes a more romantic approach. Aimard’s is a boldly articulated, firmly pointed Bach with emphatic rhythms. Rarely will one hear a marathon Bach event such as this tackled with such complete technical command and poise with barely a slip throughout the 2-1/2 hour duration (including intermission). This was sturdy, stoic Bach.

It was occasionally stolid as well. Moderate tempos and a kind of emphatic forthrightness tended to prevail. And while Aimard’s staccato Bach style made for striking contrapuntal clarity in the fugues, at times one wanted the pianist to break out with a freer, more varied and expressive approach to tempos, rubato and dynamics. One can appreciate that Bach wrote the work for the limited clavichord but why play Bach on the piano without using some of the expressive properties of the instrument, even if minimally?

That said, even within his circumscribed palette, Aimard found worthy moments, as with the subdued drama of the Prelude in C-Sharp Minor or the  Prelude in D major, one of Bach’s most ineffably charming inspirations.

Far from becoming fatigued, after intermission—oddly breaking between the F Major and F minor works—Aimard seemed to relax and allow a greater degree of varied expression in his playing. He brought a gently searching quality to the Prelude in F minor, a playful touch to the Fugue in A-flat Major, and rollicking virtuosity to the penultimate Prelude in B major.

Even with the noted reservations, this was Bach playing of indomitable strength and great integrity by one of the premier keyboard artists of our day, and Aimard received an extended and vociferous ovation from the audience.

Pianist Paul Lewis performs a recital 8 p.m. Saturday at Jordan Hall. vivoperformingarts.org.

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