Cycle Schiff plays Bach

Photo: Nadja Sjöström

Do, 11. Juni / 20.00 h / Gewandhaus, Großer Saal / No 2 / Clavier-Übung I
Sa, 13. Juni / 16.00 h / Gewandhaus, Großer Saal / No 36 / Clavier-Übung II & IV
Di, 16. Juni / 17.00 h / Gewandhaus, Großer Saal / No 111 / Die Kunst der Fuge
Eine Kooperation zwischen Bachfest und Gewandhaus

Johann Sebastian Bach has been the focus of your creative work for around five decades now. With this wealth of experience, do you still discover new things in his work?
Yes indeed, every day I discover new aspects and details. Probably because I’m curious and never give up. It’s work in progress, it never stops. Bach is the most important person in my life. For me, that is a privilege, a mission; he is simply the greatest. I’m not particularly religious, not at all in fact, but I’m not an atheist either. For me, Bach is proof of the divine. 

You play Bach all over the world. Are concerts in Leipzig something special for you?
Yes, absolutely! There are two cities that are extraordinarily important for classical music in Europe: one, it goes without saying, is Vienna and the other is Leipzig. That’s due to Bach of course, but also to the Gewandhaus, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wagner and Grieg. And the astounding thing is that the city was never shaped by aristocracy or a court. Instead, it was trade and commerce that had such a positive effect on culture. 

At the 2026 Bachfest, you’ll be playing major keyboard collections by Bach on three evenings. Are the works easier to understand as a cycle?
Bach was not only an outstanding musician, but also a scholar and encyclopaedist. Behind his cycles there is always a complex, thoroughly considered concept. And I want to follow him in that, so I have to develop a strategy too: how do I start, how do I build it up, where do I make pauses? Of course, you could also just play extracts, but then you wouldn’t do justice to Bach’s encyclopaedic idea. I can’t admire it enough. 

Can Bach make the world a better place?
Yes, and he does, more than any other composer because he’s so modest. With Bach you don’t get any feeling of ego. There’s only »we« – that makes him unique. Later composers, however magnificent their music is, composed first and foremost for themselves and for posterity. With Bach I don’t get that impression at all. I think he’d be very surprised if he knew that we today perform and treasure his music.