Professor to perform free Bach recital

Professor of Music Don Freund will give a recital at 7 p.m. Saturday in Auer Hall. The free recital will consist of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and is open to the public. A lecture on Bach's music will be given by Freund at 2 p.m. Sunday in Sweeney Hall. \nFreund received his bachelor's degree in piano and went on to get a master's degree in music composition. He taught piano before coming to IU as a composition professor. \nSaturday, he will be performing a unique work by Bach called "The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1." The piece is something most pianists will be familiar with due to aspiring pianists' exposure to much of Bach's music early on in the course of their study. \n"For pianists, Bach is like the Bible," said Leonard Hokanson, professor of music. "He represents the end of the Baroque period. By listening to Bach, you learn to think linearly and distinguish between different voices.\n"Bach's music helps in contrapuntal training, which involves a voice and a counter-voice," Hokanson said. "Apart from training the ear you also develop independence of voice and fingers. \n"Bach is unique because you can play and study his music for years and years but still continue to find new, intriguing material," said Jim Holt, a graduate student in the Music School.\nWhile the works of Bach might be used extensively by beginners, the legendary musician has developed a reputation for being audacious. The work Freund will be performing is a perfect example of this. In this work, Bach wrote a piece in every possible key. The work involves 24 preludes and fugues. \n"A prelude is an introductory free-style piece and a fugue is a piece built around a succession of voice entries on a single musical theme," Freund said. \nThe work exemplifies Bach's tendency to take a formalized style and add his own twists and turns to it. \n"He does things differently with his own creative zest," Freund said. "For example, a fugue is supposed to involve three or four voices which should be played individually, but in this piece Bach includes only two voices which become unified. This is very audacious!"\nThis also makes Bach unique, Freund said. On the one hand, he said, his music trains a musician to think linearly and to distinguish between independent voices at the same time. \n"He is even considered to be a conservative musician by those who like conservative music," Freund said. But at the same time, Freund said, he has a reputation for composing music which was different from the norm.\nIt is one of the topics Freund will address in his lecture Sunday. Freund said he hopes that those who attend will get a taste of the conservative and the audacious in Johann Sebastian Bach.