Two to one

We expected the second half of the Bach violin and harpsichord/continuo sonatas but Prof Turban was ill. We got one half: harpsichordist Andreas Skouras. It was a great performance and an interesting alternative. He played six pieces, Bach or some influenced by him although I thought the influences got a bit tenuous. No program so no details of pieces, but the composers were Bach, Scheidt, Bach, Ligeti, Bach, [unknown]. The influenced got increasingly modern and increasingly challenging and what a fascination this was on harpsichord. It’s a strangely ill-defined instrument to my ears proven with some heavy hands low on the final piece. But also some quick changes of octaves with the two keyboards and tinkles up high and all at a very moderate volume. I enjoyed all the playing but was stunned by the reading in the final piece: truly virtuosic, managing long intervals, dissonant chords and odd rhythms. Impressive. So very different and unexpected. We finally left by the other staircase, the one that Hitler and Chamberlain and others used at the Munich Agreement and I was confounded by the layout. There was a wall where the external entrance should have been. From the outside, the door is locked: unlit and clearly unused. We descended the staircase with a local woman. I mentioned Hitler’s office and she joked about fear of ghosts returning. There’s an awareness of and repulsion to this history in Germany, not least Munich. By most. Let’s hope it stays that way, in Germany, but no less elsewhere.

Andreas Skouras (harpsichord) played Bach and others at the Hockschule für musik in Munich.