Name: Elina Albach
Occupation: Harpsichordist, ensemble leader at Continuum
Nationality: German
Recent release: Judas, the upcoming new studio album by Benedikt Kristjánsson and Continuum, is slated for release June 2023 via Pentatone.

If you enjoyed this interview with Elina Albach and would like to find out more about her work and current live dates, visit her official website.



When did you first start being interested in musical interpretation?  

I have always been surrounded by music and have been making music since I was very little.

The interpretation of music is secondary as a child, but the more you witness, the earlier a musical taste naturally forms. And that in turn also led very early - at the latest in my teenage years - to an interest in different interpretations ...

Which artists, approaches, albums or performances captured your imagination in the beginning when it comes to the art of interpretation?

I remember being totally inspired as a child by Il Giardino Armonico's insanely vivid playing, by the stunningly beautiful sound of Accademia Bizantina and by Ton Koopman's continuo playing in Bach cantatas. These were the heroes of my childhood!

Are there examples for interpretations that were entirely surprising to you personally and yet completely convincing?

This arrangement of the Mass in B minor is so far from my usual musical taste, but in terms of content and timing, extremely convincing:



Listen to the drums from 1:38: that is just unbelievably good in these bars.

What would you say are the key ideas behind your approach to interpretation? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage?

As a harpsichordist, I am naturally part of the historical performance practice tradition, which has been increasingly conquering and influencing the classical music market for about 60 years.

But: what was initially revolutionary and wild has now often become boring and predictable. Therefore, it's time we question our performance practice and revitalise it with renewed energy ....

What was your own learning curve / creative development like when it comes to interpretation - what were some challenges and breakthroughs?

For me, the learning curve of interpretation cannot be separated from the artistic development with concert formats etc. - everything happens at the same time and influences the way of developing projects, playing music, listening to music etc.

It was especially important when I was in my early twenties to work with contemporary music ensembles to clear the ears and the brain and then to play and programme baroque music in a completely different way.

You can experience the result of this work in the performance of the Missa Miniatura with Continuum.

In many cases, the score will be the first and foremost resource for an interpretation. Can you explain how “reading” a score works for you?

In fact, I am very dogmatic with the score in the beginning and try to start from the manuscript and all available sources, read secondary literature, treatises, etc ...

Once I have completed this whole "nerd process", I open up my creativity and see what comes out of it - based on the research results ....

One of the key phrases often used with regards to interpretation are the “composer's intentions”. What is your own perspective on this topic and its relevance for your own interpretations?

Of course, it is very important to take the composer and his work seriously.

In addition, however, it is also important to take into account even more attributes - no music without literature, fine arts, religion, philosophy, etc., which surrounded the composers in their place at the time ....

What role does improvisation play in your interpretations?

Improvisation influences early music enormously. There was no composition, no music-making without improvisation. The separation today into literature and improvisation is a very modern invention and does not correspond at all to our daily practice.

Live interpretations can be wildly different from studio interpretations. What is this like for you?

Recordings are an artificial situation. The thoughtful interpretation, together with the sound of the instruments, is the only thing that can be listened to afterwards.

As we also noticed during the Corona time, the audience and the dialogue with the audience in live concerts is an essential part of making music and I personally like it much better. You never know what will happen!

But of course there are wonderful produced recordings and I’m very happy to have been part of the fantastic All of Bach project. 

What role do the audience and the performance space play in live interpretations?

As I said before, audience and performance space plays a huge role as well as the set-up of the stage, audience etc. Everything is part of the experience.

Many of our programmes work much better in concert than on a recording - which is why, with my ensemble Continuum, our focus in recent years has always been on live projects rather than produced recordings.

For example, our next production "Vespers & Dreams", (04. & 05.02. Villa Elisabeth, Berlin) is something that only works in a live context. You can't replace the aura of the audience and the place for this music.

With regards to studio interpretations, what role do sound, editing possibilities and other production factors play in it?

I have recently developed my own amplification equipment for my harpsichord, which increases my performance possibilities enormously. Of course, I can do other things in interpretation if I know that it can also be heard at the back in the last row.

Sound immersion is an aspect that should become much more important in historical performance practice.

Some works seem to attract more artists to add their interpretation to it than others; some seem to even encourage wildly different interpretations. From your experience, what is it about these works that gives them this magnetic pull?

I'm not sure if it's the works themselves or the teachers, concert organisers etc. who programme the same pieces over and over again.

If all musicians were really allowed / had to choose their repertoire exclusively themselves, the range would certainly be much wider!

Artists can return to a work several times throughout the course of their career with different results. Tell me about a work where this has been the case for you, please.

Bach's Chromatic Fantasy is a piece that Bach probably wrote in an exceptional situation in his life. As a reaction to the – possible - suicide of his first wife, which he missed and only learned about after returning to Köthen, he indulges his imagination in absurd chord progressions, tirates and recitative sections. Even though I am not yet that old, I am sure that this piece - which is very meaningful to me - will be interpreted and understood differently as I gain more experience in life, suffering, death and mourning.

Here is a video from five years ago – currently I play it completely differently.  



Part of the intrigue of interpretations is that the process is usually endless. Are there, vice versa, interpretations that feel definitive to you?

Not really.