Backwards Bach
2013
2-channel HD video (5 mins)
Having never received any harpsichord training, I learnt how to play the C Major Prelude from J. S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier (Book I). I then worked out a backwards version of the piece, and performed the two versions on a harpsichord in a Baroque-era mansion in Berlin, Germany.
The performances were filmed as single long takes, with the camera moving in opposite directions for the forwards and backwards versions. By reversing the chord progression of the original, the backwards version reflects and extends the symmetries within Bach’s music.
Cinematographer: Marco Armborst
Camera Assistant: Max Knauer
Dolly Grip: Fabian Möhrke
Sound Recording: Felix Andriessens
Audio Mastering: Douglas Henderson
Harpsichord: Goecke & Farenholtz Pianohaus
Location: Schloss Friedrichsfelde, Berlin
