BWV 930 - difficulty?

[chadefa1]

Hello,

Could anyone estimate the difficulty of playing Bach's little prelude BWV 930? So far, I'm playing BWV 926 and 939. I really like 930, and would like something slightly harder than 926 but not too much...
Any comments about whether this piece seems appropriate for me would be most appreciated.
The score is available here (scroll at bottom of the page): https://www.greatjsbach.net/bachscore/bwv930_af.pdf

Thank you very much beforehand.
Thomas

[tompilk]

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P.S. I think I mis-read...

[BoliverAllmon]

Our BMW Z3 is really easy to drive... get one as soon as possible... 
P.S. I think I mis-read...

nah really?

I think it is obtainable. Have you sight read through it to get a feel? try that and see what you think.

[bernhard]

This is a most beautiful prelude, and it is not very difficult (around grade 5), although more difficult than either BWV 939 or 926. The main difficulty (apart form the usual difficulties of hand and finger independence found in cournterpoint music) is the ornamentation. However, this prelude is very efective even if you ommit the ornaments. So I suggest that you learn it first without the ornaments and once it is well ingrained, add them.

BWV 939 (grade 2 – 3) is arguably the easiest of the little preludes, while BWV 926 (around grade 4) is slightly more difficult.

Other little preludes of similar difficulty to BWV 930 you may wish to investigate are:

BWV 924 (grade 4) – the main difficulty is ornamentation, so it will prepare you for similar difficulties on BWV 930.

BWV 927 (grade 4) – fast and fun!

BWV 933 (grade 4) – another energetic, fun prelude.

BWV 925 (grade 5) – A most beautiful little fugue (and my favourite amongst the little preludes) and probably composed by Bach’s son, Wilhelm Friedemann.

BWV 936 (grade 5) – My second favourite, this is a real gem – beautiful three voice piece.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[chadefa1]

Dear Bernhard and BolliverAllmon,

Thank you so much for your help and comments. Bernhard, I think I will try to stick with 930 because I have a recital in less than a month (my first one. Very strange experience for me, late piano beginner: I never thought that as an adult I could be in a recital...), and I need a piece that is reasonably long (for my level at least). Clearly, BWV 939 does not qualify. So, I thought I could play both BWV 926 and 930: they add up to about 5 minutes of performance, which is reasonable. A hard choice since they are all so beautiful...


I will try my best and inform you of the result! Thank you again!

Thomas