Bach - Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in D minor, BWV 875 - Enzo

[emill]

Which do you think is the more appropriate or correct tempo for this Bach piece?
Could you please kindly post your reason(s) if any?
Thank you for any other comment or observation.

SORRY . . . We played around with some video adjustments for the 1st clip and the result is terrible!!

[pianowolfi]

First video: There is absolutely no doubt that Enzo can play this Prelude and Fugue absolutely perfectly and convincingly at this speed!

But to me it seems a tad too fast, especially the Prelude sounds a bit like a race. Races in music can be done, of course, if it's the composer's intention, for instance Weber's perpetuum mobile, played at a very fast tempo, might increase the humourous and cheering effect, but I think that Bach is not really the place for a speed contest.

This music is very deep and requires attention to every detail, as well from the player as from the listener. So, I'm afraid it doesn't really serve the music.

So, the second interpretation is actually much more convincing to me! It's interesting, and it has those suspenseful moments! Don't be afraid of doing a slight ritardando at the end of the Prelude.

The fugue might even here still benefit from a slightly slower tempo and a more polyphonic approach.

I know that these compositions are unfortunately often treated like mere etudes, but to me they are more like meditations, created to accompany your musical and daily life through the decades. Pablo Casals, the famous Cellist, said that he used to start every single day with a Prelude and Fuge from Bach's WTK. You need time for this music. It can't be only approached from a point of "I have played so and so many Bach Preludes and Fugues"

But I think, as much it needs time, you can find this "much time" also at a very instant!! You have by far all the technical means, just give those 3 voices space to breathe, explore the different layers, sleep over it, come back to it again and again, and so on.

 

P.S: I hope that I haven't been too critical or negative, I was listening and commenting and thinking, everything together Of course I don't think that I have got the one and only truth about this piece, I was mainly thinking together with this very interesting search for an interpretation! I have played this Prelude and Fugue long ago, and I just started working on a different Prelude and Fugue, so I was thinking for myself, as well.

[emill]

Hello Wolfi!!

My frustration .... how I wish I could get Lorenzo to exchange thoughts with you ... but after he read your comments .... he just murmured ..."he speaks like my teacher" !!!    
Please do not get me wrong ... he has the highest respect for his teacher and they have a bond probably stronger than his bond with me!!   She has been the only teacher since he started on the piano 6 years ago.

That is his weakness which he has to temper and control.  On many occasions the tempo in practice is "perfect", but on performance some sort of energy overcomes him and he ends up in a race against himself.  Often he is tapped in the back by the teacher and reminded to slow down and breath..   As one observer put it - "the idiosyncrasies of youth" in referring to Enzo's race against himself.   It was his teacher who instructed him to adopt the tempo of the 2nd video and to slow it down a little bit more.

There is absolutely no harshness nor negativism in your advice.  It is courteous and straight to the point .... THANKS and many thanks!!!

best wishes ....

emill

[pianowolfi]

It's of course a very good thing when young musicians have got this sort of temperament and passion. I also have some "speedy Gonzalez" students and I like them very much. It's this sort of creative energy that you need. Older people get sometimes "too calm". And I prefer to have students that I need to "slow down" from time to time, over students whom I constantly need to push in order to make them move forward.

[costicina]

Hi Emill,
Wolfi already gave you a very thoughtful and well argumented response. In my role as 'generic audiece', after listening carefully to both of them, and before reading Wolfi post, in order not to be influenced by him, I did choose the second one, too!!! The first is more 'virtuosistic', and very pleasant, but the second one highlits better many fine details, the interplay of voices, etc.

And what it striked me the most is how Enzo is developing his  highly personal and persuasive style of interpretation. Only the great pianists are able to be unmistakable recognizable, and Enzo is one of them....

[johnmar78]

Emil, I have had a listen to both of them. Based on my instinct. Without being biased to Wolfi or Costica.
I prefer the second shirt he was wearing and he comb his hair too a better package.

Ok, the first video was more fleuent and natural, despite a faster tempo. The second one had an impression, Eno paying too much attention on its articulation and lack of release of musical feelings as compared to first one.
I would think, Enzo liked the first one, despite he wears a white shirt without tuckled it in. . Really, Tempo wise, the one he feels the best for this BW875 is the CORRECT tempo for him. He is the original artist, he can pick. I hope this helps.

[emill]

It's of course a very good thing when young musicians have got this sort of temperament and passion. I also have some "speedy Gonzalez" students and I like them very much. It's this sort of creative energy that you need.

That is NICE to hear from another teacher and that is exactly how his teacher tells me - that her problem with Enzo is slowing him down! As she says,  it is much better than trying to get the slow ones to speed up!   THANKS!

And what it striked me the most is how Enzo is developing his  highly personal and persuasive style of interpretation. Only the great pianists are able to be unmistakable recognizable, and Enzo is one of them....

Really think so Margh???  in Filipino we have an expression which goes this way - magka dilang angel ka sana - which roughly translates to: may your words be like those of a prophet or angel.  THANKS!

Emil, I have had a listen to both of them. Based on my instinct. Without being biased to Wolfi or Costica. I prefer the second shirt he was wearing and he comb his hair too a better package.

Ok, the first video was more fleuent and natural, despite a faster tempo. The second one had an impression, Eno paying too much attention on its articulation and lack of release of musical feelings as compared to first one.

I would think, Enzo liked the first one, despite he wears a white shirt without tuckled it in. . Really, Tempo wise, the one he feels the best for this BW875 is the CORRECT tempo for him. He is the original artist, he can pick. I hope this helps.

You're so funny!!   Personally at that time I prefered the faster version as it seemed more fluent, but eventually Enzo solved the kinks of the 2nd video.  The 2nd clip was taken I think the following day when there and then his teacher asked him to slow it down .... so it seems somewhat less fluent and somewhat hesitant .... but no longer the case now.  THANKS!

[virtuoso4]

excellent playing. since you have solved the problem. I congradualte to both of you.

[quantum]

I second the thoughts of those above.  Enzo most certainly has the technique to execute this music with fluidity and confidence. 

To the question of tempo.  What my teachers have taught me, and what I now pass on to my students is this: it is not the tempo that is important, it how you express the music in the tempo you have chosen.  The music must be presented in a manner that it is suited to the pace it is expressed with.  It is like choosing the right size shoe: you may be a Olympic athlete, but what good does running fast do if the shoes you wear do not fit your feet? 

I find that indecisiveness with tempo can be attributed to the lack of awareness in direction, as opposed to lack of knowledge to the appropriateness of speed.  If you know where you need to go, it is fairly easy to formulate a path and set course and speed.  Musically speaking, one needs to know where the goals are: the cadence points, phrase endings, climaxes, breaths, etc.  Awareness of these points can give clarity to choice of tempo you use. 

[johnmar78]

Quantum, you are dead right. Musicality comes first.

[andhow04]

interesting question!  honestly, i feel the fast tempo is a compensation for a lack of melodic fluidity.  if you listen to the slower one, the melodic lines are heavier, not just slower, and a bit less fluid!  we should not compensate beautiful phrasing, and sensitive touch, for the sake of a fast, impressive tempo.