Piano Forum

Just finishing your Bk 1 as I write. 

This account of Bk 1 would, I think, sit comfortably in the very top ranks of now 60+ recordings of WTK 1 (on piano) available on CD or via streaming.

I'm not talking about the engineering of the recording, obviously, but the "musicality" of it.

What puts it at the very top (up there with Richter, Feinberg, Barenboim, Schepkin, et. al.) is basically a God-given ability to get across the landscape of each P & F.  Anyone can marvel at the technical finesse of Hewitt, Schiff, Koroliov, and the rest of that heavily marketed crew of bach "specialists."   But, to be brutally frank, who among them sees the architecture of any one of the preludes and fugues?  Occasionally there is a lucky strike.  Certainly, Schiff's interpretations of many of the preludes and fugues at the tail end of Bk 2 seem to hit the mark.  But, truthfully, one has to look to Richter in Bk 1 and to Feinberg and (I know this is disputed) to Barenboim in Bk 2, to "see the whole picture." 

All music interpretation and criticism, in my books, is subjective in the end.  But I'll say it anyway: in Bach, if you can't convey the whole picture, or what I call the "landscape" of the piece, what happens is that a necessary condition of pulling off the music is simply gone.  It's absent.  A huge chunk of the music is MIA.  The music is so rich that we can, in any event, enjoy other aspects, which is why Schiff et. al. are in business.  But until we hear interpretations like, well, THIS ONE, the listener is getting only half the story.


Just starting Bk 2.   Just wonderful stuff here.  To mention only a few points, in no particular order: I LOVE the simplicity of the ornamentation in the glorious C#-minor Prelude!  The famously sight-readable but impossible-to-play A minor prelude is taken VERY slowly, but that enormous risk (at least, I think it is) pays off in spades.  The very difficult stretti in the D Major fugue: scary stuff, daunting, and I hear everything!  Magisterial.  The much-played (and on most Conservatory syllabi) gorgeous E Major prelude: this prelude sounds best when played slowly; the proof is in this perfect performance.   My only regret is that you didn't give us the repeats!!  Because I could listen to this interpretation many times over.   The E Major fugue is a stunning Gouldian performance.  The 3 part E minor Fugue, builds inexorably and beautifully to its resolute conclusion.  A change in mood, as the piece progresses, becoming more and more sinister as we approach the conclusion.  This interpretation is just, what can I say, WONDERFUL.  The F Major Prelude, which is a masterpiece in its own right, here given a totally new interpretation.  And it's the RIGHT interpretation.  It makes more sense to me than all the recorded interpretations I've ever heard.  The accompanying fugue.  Perfect.  The F Minor Fugue: Relentless, almost anxious, with a very gutsy approach to the last two bars! Perfectly executed.  One of the greats (IMO) the F# Minor Fugue, played here with ALL the voices heard, and it keeps us on the edge of our seats until the very end.  Few, very few, pianists can pull this off.  Ditto, Ditto, Ditto for all the rest, especially the difficult (and profound) G minor Fugue (Bk 2). 

Just one discovery after another.  Fantastic: all the difficult preludes and fugues from the difficult (and not much listened to) Bk 2.

One more time: Fantastic.  The whole thing: bks 1 and 2.


(OK... so I do have a tiny quibble/correction.  Measure 20, second beat, bass voice of the D# Minor Fugue!!!!  You play F#.  Pretty sure that should be an F DOUBLE sharp, in keeping with the F double sharp, last note of the bass voice in the preceding bar!!

The G major Prelude/Fugue combo (an old saw on many conservatory exams) has a strikingly different ambient quality from many of the other p&f here.  Being a dyed-in-the-wool romantic, I'd like to hear it in the same ambient "churchy" environment as all the other wonderful performances you given the world!

The location markers at YT for P&F 9-24 Bk 2 seem to be missing.  Not a big deal, but nice to have!)