Bach - Prelude and Fugue in f# minor, BWV859 (WTC I)

[andhow04]

the prelude and fugue in f# minor.. back on the steinway D.  i had this set prepared a few days ago but didnt have access, so i waited till it was avilable since i got some bad reviews on other pianos...

the f# is a two-part invention, which means he uses the same material thruout the whole piece, either in original form or developing it in some way.
the fugue is four part fugue, but only a few bars have all four voices playing at the same time.  it is solemn and slow, and features a beautiful but somewhat hard to hear inversion of the fugue theme.

(15)

UPDATE: 2/1/13 surreptitously replaced this prelude and fugue, as i came to find my previous performance in a word boring!

[pianowolfi]

Ahh what a relief and pleasure to hear this music played so musically and with so much love and understanding!

[andhow04]

i appreaciate the complement!  i very much enjoyed learrning this fugue, and was not very familiar with it before i started.

[pianoplayjl]

Nice use of pedal in the prelude! Most of the recordings hear are fast but you played it at a steady tempo.

PS My friend was learning this P&F so thats why I dug it up.

JL

[andhow04]

Nice use of pedal in the prelude! Most of the recordings hear are fast but you played it at a steady tempo.

PS My friend was learning this P&F so thats why I dug it up.

JL

thanks. i am not sure what a lot of peopel are going for, when they play this prelude at a very fast and fiery tempo. other than fast and firey. sounds better to me with a lyrical touch.. how does your friend do it.

[starstruck5]

Your Bach is so beautiful. I wonder sometimes if human beings deserve such music.

[andhow04]

Your Bach is so beautiful. I wonder sometimes if human beings deserve such music.

thanks for the compliment but isn't that a pessimistic attitude? after al a human being wrote the music!

[starstruck5]

This is very true. Nevertheless Bach was a very unusual and exceptional genius. There is something so movingly spiritual in his music -and it seems so at odds with the money driven materialism  that has devoured our 'civilisation' - even at odds with Bachs' own nature sometimes!

I am not a religious person, unlike Bach -( I don't believe we were created by an alien entity -ie God - no human, after all could come close to creating a universe! )

 Maybe I didn't mean humans don't deserve the music - it is more that the race as a whole is unworthy of it - not perhaps individuals at certain times - like Mother Teresa or others who display amazing compassion.

[andhow04]

This is very true. Nevertheless Bach was a very unusual and exceptional genius. There is something so movingly spiritual in his music -and it seems so at odds with the money driven materialism  that has devoured our 'civilisation' - even at odds with Bachs' own nature sometimes!

I am not a religious person, unlike Bach -( I don't believe we were created by an alien entity -ie God - no human, after all could come close to creating a universe! )

 Maybe I didn't mean humans don't deserve the music - it is more that the race as a whole is unworthy of it - not perhaps individuals at certain times - like Mother Teresa or others who display amazing compassion.

maybe you are right but the overwhelming materialism is surely an argument for the music not against!  the more people are alienated form the spiritual or human surely the more they need music that is pure in both.

[arielpiano]

like Mother Teresa or others who display amazing compassion...

https://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2003/10/mommie_dearest.html
Incidentally, Hitchens just died recently.