Bach - Prelude & Fugue in F-sharp minor (Book 2)

[electrafingers]

Bach's Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp minor from the second book of the WTC, in a recording made recently.
Comments are welcome.

Ishay

[daniloperusina]

This is a very polished and professional achievement!

There's something, however, about the prelude that gives me an uneasy feeling. It's as if you rubato your way around the musical points, and thus do not completely get to them. The last chord is held too long, imo.

The fugue is better. You also play more 'straight' there, and the subtle dynamic flow is beautiful. Hate to pick on it again, but last chord is held too long, I think.

It sounds as if this is meant for a CD release. The Liszt you posted impressed me much! This slightly less so. The sound is very good, and the pianoplaying per se very good. The interpretation to me is less than convincing, and comes off as a tad dull. I wish there was more intensity. Slow and soft can also be intensive. What are your own thoughts? What impression does it make on yourself versus what you want to achieve?

Anyway, you're a very good pianist!

[electrafingers]

You bring out some very important points!

First, this piece is quite new to me, so I'm far from happy with this performance. However I must say I have heard performances by Glenn Gould, Andras Schiff, Angela Hewitt and Rosalyn Tureck, and I haven't yet been convinced by any (particularly not of the prelude).

When you talk about rubato or the amount of freedom a performer decides to take in the prelude, obviously it depends on other factors you mentioned like intensity, tempo and sound, but more than that it's the vision the performer has in mind about the musical message this prelude should convey. That's a very complex issue and should include dealing with the complexity of the musical text but also trying to deal with very difficult historical and social questions. When it comes to Bach it's especially difficult because of the great abstractness of the text and our distance from his time and society, as well as the instrument we play on which is very different than the instruments used back then, as you probably know.

Back to the matter at hand, I don't think there's too much rubato in this performance but that it's not well enough structured. The beauty of this prelude, but also what makes it so difficult is that there's no unambiguous moment in it. This is probably the reason it comes out a little indecisive many times, including here. However in many other cases (without mentioning names...) it sounds as if the choices made are a bit arbitrary. The question of how much to get to certain musical points here should be very well calculated in relation to others (during the work process of course, not during performance). I don't think one can ever complete this work, but I hope to get closer to this imaginary point sometime, if it does exist.

Anyway, I'm happy to find out there are some serious and intelligent people around here and I hope I answered your question to an extent.

regards,
Ishay

[counterpoint]

In my view, it's very, very nice played, wonderful sound, good rubato, the musical figures are well shaped.

There's a bit a problem for me with the general atmosphere of both prelude and fugue. The rhythm (and perhaps the tempo too) is  too relaxed and dreamy for Bach as I understand his music.
The rhythm could be a bit more nervous and a bit more energetic, Bach needs a special sort of roughness for me.

But it's of course very subjective and what I have written is not meant to criticize your wonderful recording!

[johnlewisgrant]

A very belated comment, as I have only just listened.   

This recording/interpretation (both) is absolutely first rate.   It is faster than one is used to hearing, but it works beautifullly.   It is one of the best interpretations I have heard, and I've heard ALL the major recordings of the WTC 1 and 2. 

What others have you put up here?


JG