New Bach video Fugue n 5 in D Major, BWV 850 WTC 1

[carmelopaolucci]

Dear Friends,

This Fugue (à 4) is a powerful, proud piece which, owing to the energetic demisemiquaver run of the theme, and the consistent and persistent dotting of the quaver assumes a special grandeur of its own, but which, transfigured by the bright open key of D, only presents as it were, the appearance of, some resolute, formal nature.
The movement appears almost homophonic because two or three voices move almost continually in dotted rhythm in chord fashion with only the 8/32 run, after the manner of a Schleifer of the commencement of the theme, and a quiet semiquaver figure (derived from the free measure between the
second and the third entry of the theme) by way of contrast.
There is no regular first countersubject (counterpoint), for during the first appearance of the Comes the first voice merely imitates the concluding motive of the theme, and then forms a cadence in bass fashion. The answer itself is a faithful transposition in the fifth, as the theme only runs smoothly through the hexachord from the fundamentalnote to the sixth.
The clear, simple construction of this fugue leaves no doubt whatever that Bach did not consider himself bound to bring in all four voices during a first (even though extended) period, or even during two periods,  to complete
an important form-member by the carrying out of the theme through all four voices.
It was really fun to study it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Greetings from Italy
Carmelo

[essence]

Very secure and clear. Strong ending. In the phrases with dotted quaver and semiquaver, you generally have a slight gap before the semiquaver, which I like. But it is not always consistent, and sometimes masked by pedal?

[carmelopaolucci]

Very secure and clear. Strong ending. In the phrases with dotted quaver and semiquaver, you generally have a slight gap before the semiquaver, which I like. But it is not always consistent, and sometimes masked by pedal?

Thank you for your comment and support, Essence!
I tried to minimize the pedal's intervention as much as possible, just to improve the sound and the performance in this majestic fugue. You're probably right that sometimes using the pedal brought more cons than pros; I'll have to rethink my pedaling.
But I'm glad you enjoyed this video of mine!
Greetings from Italy
Carmelo

[essence]

Looking at the video, there is a very clear raising of the hand/finger at the notes i am talking about at the start. But you don;t keep this going all the way through.

[carmelopaolucci]

Looking at the video, there is a very clear raising of the hand/finger at the notes i am talking about at the start. But you don;t keep this going all the way through.

Noted !!! Thank you essence !!!