My life with Bach

Bach’s music has been accompanying Ewa Pobłocka from an very early age. The artist grew up to the sounds of the St. Matthew and St. John Passion. As a child, she was exposed to Cantatas, accompanying on the piano her mother – an outstanding singer. During her studies at Gdańsk schools and at the academy of music, Ewa Pobłocka presented the compositions of the Leipzig cantor at numerous concerts, competitions, and auditions with greatest passion. The pianist has been developing the art of interpreting the works of the master of polyphony, inter alia, during consultations with one of the greatest performers of Bach’s music of all time – Tatiana Nikolayeva.

Ewa Pobłocka began her phonographic adventure with Bach still before the Chopin Competition in 1980, making recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon label. After many years of artistic journey, which resulted in, among others, recordings of all the inventions, sinfonias and partitas, the Maestra decided to face the huge two-volume collection of preludes and fugues.

There is no pianist in the world who would not have encounter Das Wohltemperierte Klavier on artistic path. Comprised of two volumes, this masterpiece is one of the most ground-breaking works in the entire history of music. Dedicated to musical youth athirst for learning, as well as to those who are already advanced in their studies, a collection of twenty-four preludes and fugues requires from the pianist technical mastery and great humility. On the world stages one can rarely hear the full cycle being performed, which – invariably for many years – has been a huge intellectual challenge and a touchstone of artistic maturity. The complete cycle was recorded by Ewa Poblocka as the first among Polish pianists since Wanda Landowska. Published by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in cooperation with Shigeru Kawai, the two-disc album with the first volume of the collection was awarded the title of the album of the month by the prestigious 'Gramophone' magazine and the highest distinction of 'The Record Geijutsu'. The reviewers noticed, among others, an 'impeccable aesthetic taste', 'outstanding sense of polyphony', 'excellent technique and special skill in constructing musical narrative', stating that Ewa Pobłocka 'fits into the most outstanding tradition of Bach interpretation' and this is 'exactly the point' (Jed Distler). The 'Gramophone' magazine included her recording among the fifty best recordings of Bach's music ever made. This is already the seventh album featuring Bach’s works in the phonographic output of Ewa Pobłocka, whose other interpretations have also been appreciated by critics on a number of occasions. Compiled between 2021 and 2022, the recording of the second volume of the series will be released in late 2022.

In 2018-2022, Ewa Pobłocka performed both volumes of the cycle dozens of times on Polish stages (almost all philharmonics and major concert venues) and abroad (Japan, Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom). During this time, she also prepared two cycles of more than a dozen broadcasts devoted to the music of the Leipzig Cantor for the Second Program of Polish Radio: ‘Start with Bach’ (2020-2021) and ‘Bach's Cases’ (2021-2022).

Her next artistic project with Bach’s music after the monumental Das Wohltemperierte Klavier will be the legendary Goldberg Variations, which she plans to perform for the first time as early as the second half of 2023.

 

J. S. Bach - Partita in E minor, BWV 830: Toccata

J. S. Bach - Partita in G major, BWV 829: Preambulum

J. S. Bach - Partita in B-flat major, BWV 825: Sarabande

J. S. Bach - Partita in B-flat major, BWV 825: Menuets

J. S. Bach - Partita in B-flat major, BWV 825: Gigue

J. S. Bach - Sinfonia in C major, BWV 787   

J. S. Bach - Sinfonia in D minor BWV 790

J. S. Bach - Sinfonia in B minor, BWV 801