Bach - Prelude and Fugue in A major, BWV864 (WTC I)

[andhow04]

the A major prelude & fugue from the first book.  the prelude is a perfect example of triple counterpoint; other than a few short episodes bach only uses three motives in each possible in inversion.  its very charming and short.

the fugue has got to be one of the most difficult out there.  the subject is a very disjunct figure with hardly any stepwise motion, and the counter-material resembles the subject in many ways.  whats difficult is that the three voices don't always have a lot of melodic interest.  it is kidn of hard to practice because of that; the voices are mainly filling in and playing with rhythms within the beat. its extremely difficult to memorize all the complexity of the interweaving of the voices.

this was recorded on a different piano than usual, a kawai grand in a boomy room.'

here's the link the the a major from book II:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=43097.0

UPDATE: 11/27/12 re-recorded this prelude and fugue as the first version was recorded on a sub-par piano

UPDATE: 12/08/12 re-rcorded because i learned a note wrong!

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[ramseytheii]

I'm guilty of having listened to several of these and not responded, though mostly I enjoy.  For this one I think the fugue is a bit undeveloped.  It seems to me that much more can be done with articulation and dynamics to enliven it or make it more diverse.  I've always been opposed to a continuous legato effect in Bach; you do some articulation but in my opinion not enough to really make this fugue stand out as the masterwork it is.

Perhaps I'm influenced also by the recording quality and the piano which doesn't seem like a naturally attractive instrument.

Walter Ramsey

[andhow04]

thanks for the comments. this fugue is very difficult and probably could have used some more time.  it is not the usual piano unfortunately!  sometimes ic an't get there, but in that case i should probably jsut wait till it is available. thanks agian