playing bach

[ry10500]

hi, it's been a long time since i last visited pianostreet and posted my last thread lamenting on my lack of ability to improve. in the course of these months i've been more diligent and forced myself to be more patient. so far it seems that i'm making some progress, although the same can't be said for the technical competency bit. i have been practicing quite a lot of bach's works just so that i could commemorate glenn gould's 80th birth and death anniversary but unfortunately it's safe to say that i didn't make it again. still in taking note of my progress, i've been able to play a few of the goldberg variations coherently but not absolutely smoothly. i've been trying to figure out the hand positions and fingerings to be used especially when it comes to crossing hands( variation 5,8,14,17,26) i was wondering if variation 5 is somehow more difficult than all the others listed here because it's the only one i haven't been able to play with 2 hands up till now.

then just about a month ago i started on bach's toccata in f# minor. i've managed to play it without mistakes at times and then collapse into this utterly distasteful mistake strewn performance every now and then. is that even normal to lose muscle memory( moving wrong fingers at particular passages) occasionally? also as a point of interest where does this toccata actually rank in terms of technical and musical difficulty? is it risky to play it not having learnt much technique?