My performance of Bach - Prelude and Fugue in E major BWV 878 (WTC Book II)

[adayum]

Feedback welcome 

[brogers70]

Not an easy P&F, but a beautiful one. You've definitely got the notes; I'd just make a couple of suggestions. The prelude feels a little relentless. Just a little bit of breath and relaxation between the phrases, just a few milliseconds here or there, would give it the more relaxed, pastoral character that I think he intended. Also, you might play around with a decrescendo at the end rather than a crescendo. The fugue is very vocal sounding - could easily be a movement from a mass or something - so I'd shape the phrases a little more. It often felt like you were counting 8 beats to the bar; if you counted 4 or 2 beats to the bar I think the lines would flow in a more vocal way. These are really just minor suggestions, you've done the bulk of the work already and it's sounding good.

[andhow04]

this is one of my favorite sets from Book II, the Prelude is so stunningly gorgeous and the Fugue is very ingenious, it is working on many levels. in its composition it sort of resembles C major Book I, because there are really no episodes, it is thematic all the way through. also, he eventually merges the subject with the countersubject until they become essentially indistinguishable.

the Fugue is referencing a "stile antico" style, that is a counterpoint style derived from choral music of the 1400's and 1500's, that favors long notes (the "white" wholes and halfs of the subject), stepwise motion, and thorough preparation of dissonances and resolutions. it's a vocal style of writing, first and foremost.

i also noticed myself, that each section of this Fugue ends with a downward scale in the soprano: see m.8, m.21-22, m.33-34, and of course the two incredible scales from m.38 to the end. this is apparently from "stile antico" but also brings to my mind German chorale writing. many German chorales end with a downward diatonic scale. for a main example, look at "Wie schön leuchtet die Morgenstern." but you can find many examples.

the point is the Fugue itself is vocally inspired, and is also in a comfortable vocal range for SATB. so i really think it should be more legato. i know sometimes teachers tell you that when you have shorter notes, ie the quarters of the counter-subject, against longer notes, ie the subject, you should play with different articulations but that is not appropriate to my ear, in this piece, where the part-playing should really be smooth and legato. that said there are times for articulation, but overall, the voices should follow thrugh in a legato style. i really think that..

in m.32 i heard an E natural but it should be E#, maybe it was just a slip.

the prelude too i think can be more legato, with more experience in Bach you realize that his later Preludes in Book II had a much more fluid harmony, and this one features all those flattened sixths which give it a feeling of longing or something poignant. also, the somewhat strange writing from m.45-46 is remarkable to me, that the soprano voice does not resolve, and actually implies a seventh over the main harmony on m.46. so i think a more sensual degree of playing is in order.

some of the voice-leading is hard to connect, like between 10-11, and you don't use pedal, i don;t think you use it at all. I don't recommend that approach. Teachers will say, Bach didn't have a pedal. well, he didn't have a touch sensitive keyboard either, but they are ok with you voicing, playing crescendi and decrescndi, and all manner of nuance. so why do one but not the other? if you want to imitate a harpsichord, you have to take out all gradations of touch and only phrase with rhythm and articulation. there is nothing wrong with using a pedal, when harpsichordists had all manners of connecting phrases (including using the resonance of the room).

oh by the way, small point, i think the trill in m.26 is meant to be played without a Nachschlag. but whatever.

nice job learning this very complex Fugue !

[andhow04]

oh, i forgot to mention something, i think in m.37 - 39 you are accenting the wrong notes. the sequence makes the suspension over the third beat, so the "dissonant" notes are the A, and then the G#, in the soprano. if anything, they should have more weight, so that when you play the B and the A of the alto, you can hear the suspension that needs to be resolved