Each of the two volumes of Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier contains one prelude and one fugue in every major and minor key. Often called “the 48”, or the “Old Testament” of piano music (the new being Beethoven’s sonatas) it is perhaps the most important keyboard work of all time.
The preludes are very varied in style and often deal with a specific technical feature, while the fugues are remarkable for their wide range of contrapuntal techniques and modes of expression.
Interpreting these masterpieces is a great challenge and inspiration for every pianist and the sets of complete recordings available are numerous, displaying a wide range of interpretational approaches. Even more numerous are the unrecorded performances throughout history; it is indeed slightly annoying that, no matter how fast and far modern technology evolves, we will probably never be able to listen to performances by our 18th and 19th century masters. But we have at least some very detailed 19th century editions left, for example one by Beethoven’s student Carl Czerny (of which WTC book 1 is available from Piano Street’s online sheet music library) which is considered to give hints on how Beethoven played these pieces.
Returning to February 2010, pianist Martin Sturfält is starting an ambitious project in which he plans to record all 48 Preludes and Fugues for Piano Street. “In recording DWK I seek to fuse the prevailing neo-classical approach to playing Bach on the modern piano with the vitality of the period instrument movement. This enables me to make stylistically informed choices while keeping an undogmatic view on these masterpieces of the keyboard repertoire”, says Sturfält.
His new recording of seven of the Preludes & Fugues from Book 1 as well as two from Book 2 is now available from Piano Street for listening and downloading.
Listen and follow the project on this page: “Recording the 48″ – Preludes and Fugues by Bach
As a free sample we are happy to share with you the recording and Urtext score of the Prelude and Fugue no 7 in E-flat major from Book 2:
(click play button twice to start)
Please join us in welcoming pianist Martin Sturfält as the newest member of the Piano Street Team and enjoy these 18 new tracks!
Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor (1854) is arguably his finest composition and one of the greatest piano sonatas ever written. Many places it alongside Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 17 as “the two 19th-century masterpieces” of the piano literature.
Although Liszt performed it for his enthusiastic disciples in Weimar the work failed to impress Brahms or Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann, to whom it was dedicated, was already incarcerated in the asylum in Endenich by the time of the Sonata´s arrival in his home in Düsseldorf.
The Sonata drew an enthusiastic compliment from Richard Wagner following a private performance of the piece by Karl Klindworth in 1855. Published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1854 it was first performed on January 27, 1857 in Berlin by Liszt’s pupil and son-in-law, Hans von Bülow. It has now been more than 150 years after the Sonata’s public premiere and no musicologist, music theorist or classical music fan can deny its influence, craft and original power. The work also represents one of the most successful solutions of the problems of the sonata form to come out of the 19th century.
Already in 1822 Schubert in his Wanderer Fantasy had successfully achieved the same feat. The Wanderer Fantasy was one of Liszt´s favourite concert pieces which he also arranged for piano and orchestra in 1851. An interesting argument on behalf of Liszt´s borrowings from Beethoven and of a program built upon those borrowings emphasizes a conflict between good and evil (Giovanni Minotti, 1934).
Another detailed study by Tibor Szász (1985) suggests, in terms of studying melodies found elsewhere in Liszt´s music, a possible presence of a program in the Sonata based on biblical texts.
The Sonata is notable for being constructed from five motivic elements that are woven into an enormous musical architecture. The motivic units undergo thematic transformation throughout the work to suit the musical context of the moment. A theme that in one context sounds menacing and even violent, is then transformed into a beautiful melody. This technique helps to bind the sonata’s sprawling structure into a single cohesive unit.
Broadly speaking, the Sonata has four movements although there is no gap between them. Superimposed upon the four movements is a large sonata form structure, although the precise beginnings and endings of the traditional development and recapitulation sections has long been a topic of debate. Charles Rosen states in his book The Classical Style that the entire piece fits the mold of a sonata form because of the reprise of material from the first movement that had been in D major, the relative major, now reprised in B minor. Alan Walker, the forefront contemporary Liszt scholar, believes that the development begins roughly with the slow section at measure 331, the leadback towards the recapitulation begins at the scherzo fugue, measure 459, and the recapitulation and coda are at measures 533 and 682 respectively. Each of these sections (exposition, development, leadback, and recapitulation) are examples of Classical forms in and of themselves, which means that this piece is one of the earliest examples of Double-function form, a piece of music which has two classical forms occurring simultaneously, one containing others. For instance the exposition is a sonata form which starts and ends with material in B minor, containing the second part of the exposition and development wandering away from the tonic key, largely through the relative major D.
Franz Liszt
In using this structure, Liszt was influenced by Franz Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasie, as mentioned earlier, a work he greatly admired, performed often and arranged for piano and orchestra. Schubert used the same limited number of musical elements to create a broad four movement work, and used a fugato 4th movement.
Already in 1851 Liszt experimented with a non-programmatic “four-movements-in-one” form in an extended work for piano solo called Grosses Concert-Solo. This piece, which in 1865 was published as a two-piano version under the title Concerto pathétique, shows a thematic relationship to both the Sonata and the later Faust Symphony. The quiet ending of the sonata may have been an afterthought; the original manuscript, kept in the The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, contains a crossed-out ending section which would have ended the work loudly instead.
Two notable reference performances of the Sonata:
Támás Vásary (five parts):
Outstanding Hungarian pianist and conductor Támás Vásáry (b. 1933), Liszt competition winner 1948 and noted för his Chopin recordings on Deutsche Grammophone, gives us a brilliant recent interpretation of the sonata. The balancing of detail in relation to the whole, a beautiful piano sound and contrasts between lyricism and eruptive drama, makes this recording one of my favourites.
Claudio Arrau (four parts):
Legendary pianist Claudio Arrau (1903-91), who studied with the Liszt pupil Martin Krause in Berlin, offers an unforgettable and monumental rendition through a full orchestral reading of the piece, revealing an epic and almost religious interpretation which makes us think of the sonata form as a grand theatrical drama.
“Towards the Light”
– Director Oliver Becker’s Alexander Scriabin Documentary from 1996
This documentary on the unconventional life and ground-breaking music of Russian pianist and composer Alexander Scriabin sheds light on the mystical ideas which inspired him. He became consumed by a vision of a union of the arts, a coalescence of music, words, movement, light, colour and ideas , to create transcendent experiences. Contributors to his fascinating exploration of the composer’s life and work are musicians Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Horowitz, Mikhail Pletnev and Scriabin’s daughter Marina.
“In the clanging chords of the opening, he was in brilliant form. A few minutes later, he seemed to be bending close to the piano, listening. Then his left hand fell from the piano, his head almost touched the keys. A second later he rolled off the stool on to the floor. It was a cerebral hemorrhage. Doctors were called to the stage, but Simon Barere was beyond aid; within ten minutes he was dead.”
- Time Magazine, April 1951
“You are a pianistic genius”, said the legendary Sergei Rachmaninoff to Simon Barere.
“Barere is an Anton Rubinstein in one hand and a Liszt in the other” said the famous composer Alexander Glazunov. But if you mention Simon Barere (1896-1951) to most people today, their response is “Simon Who”? Just a small group of passionate piano connoisseurs and historians will tell you that he was a freak virtuoso who stunned his audiences and those of them and others who bought his few and now very rare recordings. They placed him alongside icons of piano history such as Josef Hofmann, Ignaz Friedman, Vladimir Horowitz and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Barere was born in Odessa, Russia, as the eleventh of thirteen children. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Annette Essipova, a leading teacher of the time. After her death, he studied with Felix Blumenfeld, whose other pupils included Heinrich Neuhaus and Vladimir Horowitz.
After graduation, Barere began playing many concerts in many places, at the same time teaching at the Kiev Conservatory. He emigrated to Berlin (1932), then to Sweden (1933-40), and finally to the United States. Barere was especially known for his legendary speed and finger dexterity. According to noted music critic Harold C. Schonberg, Barere was more than a scorching virtuoso: he produced a colourful piano tone and could also be highly musical.
Nobel Media, in association with the Stockholm Concert Hall, present this year’s Nobel Prize Concert an event of world class stature. The concert took place on 8 December as part of the official Nobel Week programme of activities.
Martha Argerich, headstrong, charismatic and technically brilliant pianist, was this year¹s soloist at the Nobel Prize Concert. Yuri Temirkanov, Music Director and Principal Conductor for the Saint Petersburg Philharmoni was
leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The programme comprised Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Prokoviev’s Suite from Romeo and Juliet.
Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires in 1941, and had her performing debut at the tender age of eight. Her breakthrough came in 1965, when she won the prestigious Chopin Competition in Warsaw. She has worked with most
of the world¹s leading conductors, and her repertoire includes Bach, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók and Prokoviev.
Ms Argerich is passionate about supporting young talent. The year 1999 saw the first International Martha Argerich Piano Contest in Buenos Aires, a competition that she founded and of which she is now the chief judge. She has also instituted the Martha Argerich Music Festival in Japan, with concerts and masterclasses.
The Nobel Prize Concert is held to honour the year¹s Nobel Laureates, who attend with their respective parties. Also present are members of the Swedish Royal Family and guests of the Nobel Foundation.
In a live recording from the Amerikahaus, Munich, Friedrich Gulda reveals the versatility of his keyboard playing. On the clavichord he plays three preludes and fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (in A minor BWV 889, in C major BWV 846, in A flat major BWV 886) on the piano; his own re-working of Schubert’s song Der Wanderer, ending with Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau and a selection of his own compositions.
Watch the recital here: http://www.classicaltv.com/v530/friedrich-gulda-solo-flight
*** MUSICAL HOLIDAY GIFTS FROM PIANO STREET *** Free sheet music for the pieces in the above video
(click images to open in new window):
Bach: Prelude & Fugue WTC II no 20
Bach: Prelude & Fugue WTC I no 1
Bach: Prelude & Fugue WTC II no 17
Schubert: Der Wanderer
Debussy: Reflets dans l’eau
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) won first prize at the International Competition in Geneva in 1946. He began going on concert tours throughout the world.
Together with Jörg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda, Gulda formed what became known as the “Viennese troika”.
Gulda had a strong dislike of authorities like the Vienna Academy, the Beethoven Ring of which he was offered in recognition of his performances but which he refused, and even faked his own death in 1999, cementing his status as the enfant terrible among pianists. Nevertheless, Gulda is widely
regarded as one of the most outstanding piano players of the 20th century.
His piano students included Martha Argerich and the conductor Claudio Abbado. He is also remembered as an accomplished jazz-pianist, musical thinker and avant-garde artist. Although most famous for his Beethoven
interpretations, Gulda also performed the music of J.S.Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy and Ravel.
The sheet music of Burgmüller’s opus 109, 18 Characteristic Studies, has been published as Piano Street Editions together with recordings by Henrik Sandback.
This collection may be used as a sequel to the studies opus 100.
Each study challenges the player with a specific technical problem, inseparable from the main idea of the composition.
Like the earlier pieces, the Characteristic Studies are not concerned solely with technique – Burgmüller’s melodious and charming works always have a distinct musical appeal, and are also studies of character and mood.
*** MUSICAL HOLIDAY GIFTS FROM PIANO STREET ***
Recordings of six of the pieces by Burgmüller for you to enjoy!
Pictures at an Exhibition, one of Modest Mussorgsky’s most famous work, is a set of ten pieces originally composed for the piano.
The work is also well known in various arrangements with Ravel’s orchestration being the most recorded and performed.
Sheet music of the piano version is now available in urtext edition in the Piano Street sheet music library.
Project for a city gate in Kiev by Hartmann, the picture which influenced piece no 10
The complete work:
Promenade
I: Gnomus
II: The old castle
III: Tuileries (Dispute between children at play)
IV: Cattle (”Bydlo”)
V: Ballet of the unhatched chicks
VI: Samuel Goldemberg and Schmuyle
Promenade
VII: The market at Limoges (The great news)
VIII: The catacombs (Roman sepulcher)
IX: The hut on hen’s legs (Baba-Yaga)
X: The Bogatyr gate (in the Capital in Kiev)
Here is Evgeny Kissin playing Promenade, Gnomus and The Old Castle:
Fashinatingly, it is also possible to play it on the guitar!
Here Kazuhito Yamashita play the seventh piece, Limoges:
On Tour Now: Leif Ove Andsnes and Robin Rhode Reframe Pictures
The project Pictures Reframed, unites two strikingly original artists – pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and visual artist Robin Rhode in a collaborative performance which centres around Mussorgsky’s epic piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.
Composed in 1874 Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition was experimental in its day and highly visual in its content. It is one of today’s most famous pieces of classical music, a work which has been visited and revisited by countless artists over its 130 year history.
Known for his bold “moving” creations and performance-based videos, Robin Rhode and Leif Ove Andsnes have together conceived a programme which brings together music and film in an evocative performance, featuring other solo works by Mussorgsky and Schumann, a new commission by Austrian composer Thomas Larcher and culminating in Mussorgsky’s masterpiece.
The concert will tour with 2 stage sets (Set 1 and Set 2). Set 1 comprises a large central screen above the piano showing the full video works and Set 2 includes additional still imagery by Robin Rhode on a number of other screens surrounding the piano.
Classic FM (UK) Has Announced its Children’s Hall of Fame
Radio listeners in the UK have selected Hedwig’s Theme by John Williams as the all time favorite in a new poll of children’s classics for station Classic FM.
The PA reports the iconic main theme song for the Harry Potter films was the winner, “with youngsters choosing it ahead of other movie scores such as Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean and E.T. But more traditional classical tunes by Pachelbel and Tchaikovsky figure highly in the list unveiled on the station.”
Classic FM has almost half a million listeners under the age of 18 and is releasing an album of Children’s Classics to tie in with the countdown on November 23.
Darren Henley, Classic FM managing director, said:
“This poll shows that age is no barrier to enjoying the world’s greatest music. Classical music is as relevant a part of people’s lives in the 21st century, whether they’re aged eight or 88.”
Children’s Hall of Fame Nos. 1-20
1. John Williams: Harry Potter
2. Howard Blake: Walking in the Air (The Snowman)
3. Sergei Prokofiev: Peter’s Theme (Peter and the Wolf)
4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker)
5. Sergei Prokofiev: The Duck Scene (Peter and the Wolf)
6. Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Fantasia)
7. Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance Op. 39, No. 4 (Fantasia)
8. Johann Pachelbel: Canon
9. Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
10. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumblebee
11. Leroy Anderson: The Typewriter
12. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Cygnets (Swan Lake)
13. Giacomo Puccini: ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’, Gianni Schicchi
14. John Williams: Flying Theme (E.T.)
15. Ludwig van Beethoven: Für Elise
16. John Williams: The Duck Scene (Peter and the Wolf)
17. Camille Saint-Saëns: Aquarium (Carnival of the Animals)
18. Johannes Brahms: Lullaby
19. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Scène from Act II (Swan Lake)
20. Aram Khachaturian: Sabre Dance
Interpreting these masterpieces is a great challenge and inspiration for every pianist and the sets of complete recordings available are numerous, displaying a wide range of interpretational approaches. Even more numerous are the unrecorded performances throughout history; it is indeed slightly annoying that, no matter how fast and far modern technology evolves, we will probably never be able to listen to performances by our 18th and 19th century masters. But we have at least some very detailed 19th century editions left, for example one by Beethoven’s student Carl Czerny (of which WTC book 1 is available from Piano Street’s online sheet music library) which is considered to give hints on how Beethoven played these pieces. 
Returning to February 2010, pianist Martin Sturfält is starting an ambitious project in which he plans to record all 48 Preludes and Fugues for Piano Street.
Charles Rosen states in his book 
