I've been assigned Bach's e minor toccata-

[Mozartian]

I'm so.. surprised. And thrilled. Utterly thrilled, lol.

Anyway was wondering if anyone had some tips on playing it, and which are the best recordings of it.

Thanks!

[kitty on the keys]

GREAT PIECE!!! Begin the fugue first. Then the other movements. At first keep the tempo very strict----then experiment with the sections that sound improvised and try to capture that freedom.

I have the Hewitt CD.

Kitty

[Mozartian]

Thanks kitty,
I will be starting the fugue first. Everytime I listen to it I'm like ...whoa. lol I can't beliiiieeevvee my teacher assigned that to me; I love her, lol.

Do you like Hewitt's recording of the toccatas? What little I've heard of her's didn't really seem very energetic or exciting- but I've only heard samples. I've got my hands on Gould's (very eccentric, his playing of the fugue is incredible though), Mr. Attwood's (very mysterious, <3 that rec), and Pollack's (which I havent listened to yet, supposed to be very old school though) so far. Yay for interp comparisons!

[steveie986]

I'm very excited for you. The toccatas are really out of this world. I recommend you listen to as many different recordings as you can. Gould's recordings are somewhat schizophrenic: the fugual passages are sublime, but the improvisational parts, IMO, sound forced and analytical. You can really learn from his treatment of the fugal portions but you should feel free to develop your own improvisational sound for the rest.

You won't tire of the toccatas. The miracle is that every time you listen to them, you discover something fresh. It's like admiring a cathedral and noticing small architectural motifs repeated over and over from the very small to the very large. Enjoy yourself.

[ce nedra]

I play this, wonderful work!! yes I agree, start with the fugue first.

The "un poco allegro" is tricky, not only because it is hellishly contrapuntal but also to memorise. Basiacally if you can do it hands separately, REALLY slowly, without the book, you will be fine.

The "adagio" is the same.. but worse in the sense that it must sound improvised. How my teacher told me to memorise this is to practically memorise the note names. While practising it at a 30th (literally) of the speed, (w/o the book) you must be able to say out loud what note comes next. Otherwise, come the stage, and all hell breaks loose.

The fugue is fun, really, you're gonna really enjoy it. PLEASE make sure you are playing out of a trustworthy edition, you dont want to go have to relearn whole passages because of mistakes in crappy editions (trust me, I talk from painful experience)... also practise this very slowly, and memorise immediately. (hands separately... its a very boring process, i know, but the results are amazing!)

Anything else just lemme know.

CN

[Mozartian]

Thanks for the tips! I do appreciate them.

Hmm... hands seperate memorization always annoys me in fugues, because you always end up cutting the middle voice(s) in half, and I don't really think that's so great in the long run musically- but a lot of people seem to do it. Is it really that beneficial?

I have played one of the toccatas (c minor- best, longest, most awesome fugue ever), so I do have a good edition of all of them- the Henle.

Thanks again!

[steveie986]

Speaking of the C minor - I think its subject is possibly the most beautiful in all of Bach. Has a kind of a Mozartian quality to it. Simple & elegant.

Nice subject. Wanna fugue?