Bach ohne Grenze

Artistic Research

Bach ohne Grenze

A piano is secured to the back of a Volkswagen bus and the pianist plays while the vehicle is driving or is parked. Two cameras– an Iphone 12 mini and GoPro 8– record audio and images in 4 K. No images or sounds are edited. The result is a collage/montage of J.S. Bach’s Toccata in e-minor recorded in different locations: field, forest, lake, city, and graveyard. She lets herself draw inspiration from the situation, atmosphere, weather and time, and they all influence the interpretation - the tempo, phrasing, articulation and volume. 

This film project aimed to set classical music free from some borders by decontextualizing the situation in which it is usually presented. A fixed concert hall is replaced by a mobile bus, acoustic purity is mixed with outside noise and the audience is not necessarily comprised of concert-goers but was there at the time by chance. 

©Anja Thölking and stills from the video Bach ohne Grenze

Recorded Between October 5 and November 16 2021 in and around Freiburg im Breisgau.                

Rei Nakamura and Kentaro Taki, Conception                                                                                              

Rei Nakamura, Piano Kentaro Taki, Video, Andreas Felden, Camera                                                          

Supported from a grant by the Ministry of Science, Research and Art Baden-Württemberg                

Kindly supported from ProPiano, Freiburg                        

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