Your Favorite Movement of the Opus Clavicembalisticum

[panic]

The first fugue is SUPERB. If I could play any amount of OC I'd probably choose that and not even bother with the rest, as I believe it sums up a lot of essence of the piece in 13 short minutes.

I've never cared for the shorter movements, with the exception of the Introito. The Fantasia and Cadenzas just seem too reckless and disagreeable for me. I used to be thrilled by the last four minutes of the Passacaglia and although the very last minute is some of the best stuff in the piece, I've stopped liking the climax before that because it lacks any compositional attempt to incorporate the theme as part of some larger dramatic germ, instead just setting it against buzzing chords that in my opinion take away from the moment if anything.

[arch0wl]

The closest I will be to ever hearing the OC before the Powell recording is when JCarey, Etude and others are finished transposing it to sets of MIDI and digital recordings. Hopefully that will make the debates around here put less focus on inaccurate recordings, at least..