# Bach.. Well-tempered Clavier



## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

This is an incredible work, and there are hundreds of recordings.

What is your favorite? (piano)


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Rosalyn Tureck - DG (complete).


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## Logos (Nov 3, 2012)

Richter. Here it is:


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Skaarse said:


> This is an incredible work, and there are hundreds of recordings.
> 
> What is your favorite? (piano)


Hans-Georg Schäfer, Tatiana Nikolayeva. At least in Bk 2.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

*Hans-Georg Schäfer *is my favorite too, and then* Ivo Janssen*.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Nikolayeva, although I'm not sure which one I prefer (she recorded it twice).


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I never heard of Schafer, so I found his WTC II on NML and played many of the pieces. Yes, it is a wonderful set of interpretations.
Thanks much!!


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

I love various interpretations including Tureck's, Richter's and Schiff's 2nd recording.

*Glenn Gould *is my first choice though as he manages to create coherence from start to finish in both WTC books with a highly original and contrapuntally clear rendition. Gould's choice of tempos and dynamics creates a thrilling experience from start to finish.

On the other hand, Kenneth Gilbert fills the gap whenever I am in the mood for a harpsichord version.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I second Gould, I love his interpretations!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I'll say Gould, and in a tie the very different ECM version by Schiff from 2012, his second traversal.

There are a LOT of other excellent WTCs, each with something to offer.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Did anyone hear Angela Hewitt's second (or first I guess) recording? It gets a lot of critical praise but I haven't heard much about from fans on this forum. As it's on Hyperion I can't sample it myself before I buy it and fear it may be an interpretation nobody but the critics actually like.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

BachIsBest said:


> Did anyone hear Angela Hewitt's second (or first I guess) recording? It gets a lot of critical praise but I haven't heard much about from fans on this forum. As it's on Hyperion I can't sample it myself before I buy it and fear it may be an interpretation nobody but the critics actually like.


I like Hewitt's Bach recordings very much (I have most of them and love the Couperin recording too.) I have her first recording of WTC, which I think is very delicate and nuanced. I have not heard the 2nd one.

You can hear audio samples on Hyperion's web site.
1st: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDS44291/4
2nd: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67741/4


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Some related posts in this recent thread
https://www.talkclassical.com/57105-bach-piano-your-favorite.html


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

premont said:


> *Hans-Georg Schäfer *is my favorite too, and then* Ivo Janssen*.





Bulldog said:


> I never heard of Schafer, so I found his WTC II on NML and played many of the pieces. Yes, it is a wonderful set of interpretations.
> Thanks much!!


He has also recorded The Goldberg Variations, I just saw it for the first time, I haven't heard it.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

BachIsBest said:


> Did anyone hear Angela Hewitt's second (or first I guess) recording? It gets a lot of critical praise but I haven't heard much about from fans on this forum. As it's on Hyperion I can't sample it myself before I buy it and fear it may be an interpretation nobody but the critics actually like.


Yes, I have heard both. What to say? I didn't find either recording contained any memorable moments or great insights. Neither did I find either recording was offensive. She plays in a way which won't disorientate people whose conception of what music should sound like comes from the conservatory style in Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Brahms etc -- the core piano tradition. There's a certain mediocrity about what she does though executed professionally, with some ideas about which voice to make the prominent one, and sometimes a distinctive touch, decently recorded and adequately packaged. Not a great ROI for me.

Put it like this, the main thing that distinguishes it, the main point of excellence, is the Press Relations -- the fact that their agency has managed to get very good reviews from professional reviewers.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I find both Hewitt WTC's a little above average. Put another way, I prefer her to folks like Ashkenazy and Barenboim.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

There are many that I enjoy. The work has so many possibilities. In addition to some of these mentioned I would add ...

Pierre-Laurent Aimard - only Book 1 has been issued: it had a mixed reception but I found it very stimulating (in an enjoyable way).
Samuil Feinberg
Craig Sheppard

I would love to see some recommendations for really good recordings of the work played on a harpsichord.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> I would love to see some recommendations for really good recordings of the work played on a harpsichord.


I think on the whole harpsichord players have been more imaginative with it, and I'd say more successful, probably because they approached the score without anachronistic pianistic preconceptions about phrasing and voicing. So you get some readings which take the music to places which are very far from piano players' ideas.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^^^ Thanks! Suggestions for good ones?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Rubsam maybe. I’d start there.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

BachIsBest said:


> Did anyone hear Angela Hewitt's second (or first I guess) recording? It gets a lot of critical praise but I haven't heard much about from fans on this forum. As it's on Hyperion I can't sample it myself before I buy it and fear it may be an interpretation nobody but the critics actually like.


Yes I have Hewitt's first recording. It is extremely fine and very well recorded. You certainly won't go wrong with it.
I also have the eccentric and brilliant Gould and also the ice cool Richter who said he played Bach 'for hygienic purposes'.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

DavidA said:


> Yes I have Hewitt's first recording. It is extremely fine and very well recorded. You certainly won't go wrong with it.
> I also have the eccentric and brilliant Gould and also the ice cool Richter who said he played Bach 'for hygienic purposes'.


Ice cool? Sounds like another red herring from Richter ... I've never heard the kind of emotion he brings to the WTC (the p&fs he likes, anyway).


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Joao Carlos Martins is interesting, from what I´ve heard, but the sound was hard and unclean, so I didn´t buy it, when I had the option. This one sounds better. I have his Partitas.






https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-5377/


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## agoukass (Dec 1, 2008)

I love Ashkenazy's recording. It's one of the finest things that he has done in recent years and it shows that he has spent a lifetime thinking about this music. Pollini's recording of Book I is also a recent favorite.


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

Thank you. I have just re-joined the forum after some years, so I need time to lock around.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

Richter all the way. Sound quality is variable, but mostly fine. This particular prelude is astonishing - from 0:25 is some of the most beautiful piano playing I've ever heard:






An example of one of the occasions when Bach is helped by the inclusion of some pedal


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

If you ever get tired of Gould but still want something Gouldy, then Gulda is good. It's very clear, precise, and sometimes quirky. I love his version of the 13th fugue in book 1.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> I would love to see some recommendations for really good recordings of the work played on a harpsichord.


I don't have Mandryka's comprehensive knowledge on this topic, but the two sets that I've been enjoying most the past couple of years are Ton Koopman's and Bob van Asperen's. The former is a little hard to find, but the latter has been reissued in a very cheap box set, along with van Asperen's recordings of Toccatas and the Goldberg Variations.

And I keep hoping that Blandine Rannou will record them.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I would recommend Scott Ross on harpsichord. I am not familiar with the others, so I cannot compare, but Ross is great and not only for WTC, but also for Scarlatti and Couperin.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Jacck said:


> I would recommend Scott Ross on harpsichord. I am not familiar with the others, so I cannot compare, but Ross is great and not only for WTC, but also for Scarlatti and Couperin.


Unfortunately, I only have Book II from Ross. It is a masterful performance.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I’ve been enjoying Frédérick Haas’s new WTC 2.


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

I listened to Evgeni Koroliov's WTC recently with high expectations. Koroliov's Art of Fugue is impressive and my current reference. However his WTC is underwhelming to my ears. It lacks that energetic drive and inspiration that Gould has or the deep spirituality that Richter has.


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

Clairvoyance Enough said:


> If you ever get tired of Gould but still want something Gouldy, then Gulda is good. It's very clear, precise, and sometimes quirky. I love his version of the 13th fugue in book 1.


Thanks for this!

Gulda is a great find in my search for a clear voiced interpretation as an alternative to Gould. Furthermore he tends to impart more expression in several pieces compared to Gould's occasionally too robotic rendition (eg WTC book 1: C major or D major preludes). I need to listen more to Gulda's recording to assess coherence that Gould and to a lesser extent Richter impart.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Interesting. Koroliov's WTC is one of my favorite versions, and I prefer it to his Art of Fugue by a small margin.


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## Muse Wanderer (Feb 16, 2014)

Bulldog said:


> Interesting. Koroliov's WTC is one of my favorite versions, and I prefer it to his Art of Fugue by a small margin.


I only listened to Koroliov's recording once and maybe he deserves a few more listens after I savour Gulda to the full. He certainly is in the same school of Gould, Tureck, Gulda and Schiff who refrain from pedal use that tends to smear the whole polyphonic structure.

Hewitt is an example of the mess the pedal can impart on the fugues and to a lesser extent the preludes. Mushy romanticised sound that emphasises the right hand's melody at the expense of the contrapuntal structure. Easy listening for beginners but it gets tiring after some time.

I haven't listened to the WTC for years as I am trying to finish off listening to the whole of Suzuki cantata cycle. I started the cycle 3 years ago or so and I am still at volume 45.  That said, it has been refreshing to relisten to my favourites WTC recordings these past few weeks.


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## johnlewisgrant (Mar 11, 2013)

Mandryka said:


> Yes, I have heard both. What to say? I didn't find either recording contained any memorable moments or great insights. Neither did I find either recording was offensive. She plays in a way which won't disorientate people whose conception of what music should sound like comes from the conservatory style in Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Brahms etc -- the core piano tradition. There's a certain mediocrity about what she does though executed professionally, with some ideas about which voice to make the prominent one, and sometimes a distinctive touch, decently recorded and adequately packaged. Not a great ROI for me.
> 
> Put it like this, the main thing that distinguishes it, the main point of excellence, is the Press Relations -- the fact that their agency has managed to get very good reviews from professional reviewers.


I agree, with one proviso. Richter's WTC 1 (not 2), which I adore, could I think be justly criticized for contradicting Tovey's dictum that all voices should be heard. Barenboim is, of course, totally over-the-top; but I confess to really liking his WTC 2, which in some ways seems to me more challenging than Book 1. We learn that lesson right at the outset, with the C major prelude: difficult but completely sight-readable in Book 1; quite challenging part-playing in Book 2!

I also like the old S. Feinberg crazy-fast WTC 2. All conceivable rules of baroque decorum and propriety are trounced, but I love it nonetheless.

Clavier/Harpsichord: John Butt on Linn. Hard to find, although quite new. Stunning realism, where the harpsichord really sounds like a harpsichord. The instrument is impossible to record, but the Scots at Linn have done it.

Bernard Roberts gets at least an honourable mention, both books. Also of great interest, and beautifully recorded, is Sergey Schepkin's WTK 1 and 2. If you want exquisite control and part-playing, this is it for my money.

For what it's worth, I've got a version of Book 2 online, which is a kind of "virtual" experiment. No adds. And I make, and am not interested in making, any money out of it.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP5BZzcdRkq0zO0dfrE3ZIGMcQTQQ9XTj


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## johnlewisgrant (Mar 11, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> There are many that I enjoy. The work has so many possibilities. In addition to some of these mentioned I would add ...
> 
> Pierre-Laurent Aimard - only Book 1 has been issued: it had a mixed reception but I found it very stimulating (in an enjoyable way).
> Samuil Feinberg
> ...


Here's a url for Craig Sheppard (whom I don't know): 
https://www.allmusic.com/album/js-bach-the-well-tempered-clavier-book-2-mw0001875114

Feinberg: Easily accessible via YT. What can you say about Feinberg: wild and crazy tempi, but a tour-de-force, a masterpiece, in my own (very personal) opinion. I first heard it on LP at my university's music library, in the days when listening in campus music libraries entailed dropping the needle (what there was of it) on vinyl (what there was of it). Unforgettable pianism, that's for sure! A complete revelation. You will never hear Bach played like this. Still, I think, one of the all-time great piano interpretations of Bk 2 of the WTK.


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

She plays faster than brisk! It's invigorating.

Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 - HJ Lim - 임현정 바하 평균율


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Luchesi said:


> She plays faster than brisk! It's invigorating.
> 
> Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 - HJ Lim - 임현정 바하 평균율


Can't say that I share your enthusiasm. She offers a highly romanticized set of interpretations that even reach forward with the stamp of Debussy in the C major Prelude. As for the enlightenment provided by Bach's counterpoint, she offers very little with her impetuous phrasing and blurring of lines with the excessive speed. Overall, I find it a willful disregard for Bach's music.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

I applaud HJ Lim's fearlessness if not exactly all her brusque tempos. But there are no tempo or expression markings on Bach's score and the current year of contemporary life is 2018, not 1750. While certainly highly unconventional, I wouldn't exactly describe it as boring or lacking in interest either, though the Philistines of Tradition are probably going to have a heart attack at her freedom of expression, individuality, and daring... With whatever she's doing, she seems to be genuinely feeling it and this is not a dry, rote performance that turns this great work into a dead museum piece preserved under glass. It has to be attempted in new ways, risking potential disaster, to stay alive, and I'm glad I heard it. Its greatest virtue to me is that Lim's performance was not _predictable_, and that held my interest.


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

Bulldog said:


> Can't say that I share your enthusiasm. She offers a highly romanticized set of interpretations that even reach forward with the stamp of Debussy in the C major Prelude. As for the enlightenment provided by Bach's counterpoint, she offers very little with her impetuous phrasing and blurring of lines with the excessive speed. Overall, I find it a willful disregard for Bach's music.


You said that very well. People are still saying that. When I was young I thought I might understand why people say that - when I got older. Why they would want a score to be always reproduced within a narrow range of what we think the composer wanted?

What did Bach want? We can be fairly sure that he wanted you to read the Bible everyday, memorize parts of it and believe its claims above every other philosophy and source. What were his views on women and raising children?

You reminded me of this song, because of the cyclic logic in what we want to hear.

"Nothing old, nothing new, nothing ventured
Nothing gained, nothing still-born or lost,
Nothing further than proof nothing wilder than youth
Nothing older than time, nothing sweeter than wine
Nothing physically, recklessly, hopelessly blind
Nothing I couldn't say
Nothing why 'cause today
Nothing rhymed"


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Luchesi said:


> You said that very well. People are still saying that. When I was young I thought I might understand why people say that - when I got older. Why they would want a score to be always reproduced within a narrow range of what we think the composer wanted?


If not appreciating a performance that moves Bach well into the 19th Century and blows away the counterpoint is narrow, I plead guilty.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

I enjoy Colin Tilney's playing of Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier":


















*HERE'S* a good review of it from Gramophone.


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

Bulldog said:


> If not appreciating a performance that moves Bach well into the 19th Century and blows away the counterpoint is narrow, I plead guilty.


I have many recordings of this for the 18th century experience, and then those like Gulda's etc.. Is the music universal? Can it be played at full tilt or very very slowly - and then what does it gain or lose? I have the very great advantage and blessing of being able to hear so many recording interpretations for dissection. And I can explore the counterpoint at my leisure, but I can't play these this fast with this accuracy on my Kawai.

I mostly purchase CDs as reference recordings. I always seek out extreme renditions.

Picture JsB sitting in a recital, being subjected to this 21st century sound and 're-interpretation'.

Would he politely back out of the room and tell anyone who would listen it's just wrong!, wrong!, wrong!? Where's the reverence?

Would he say, "I never expected that these teaching pieces would be run through in one breath like this! It tickles me to experience these contrasts from the experimenting, modernistic and vogish future."

Would he not say anything?? Whatever the people of the future are doing in music is what people will do, as in other areas of life.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Luchesi said:


> I have many recordings of this for the 18th century experience, and then those like Gulda's etc..


I love Gulda's Bach. How about you?


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I like Glenn Gould the best. I also have Gulda and Richter. The Russians seem to be good at Bach, and I have those "Russian Piano School" box sets, which I enjoy.

It's just a short step from WTC to the Two-and Three-part Inventions and Sinfonias. My favorite of the Sinfonias is the Nr. 9 in F minor, the way Gould plays it so slowly and profoundly. The faster versions just sound mechanical to me now.






The only flaw is the "tic" on some of the notes. Gould had the action reset to be more like a harpsichord.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Most of the organ music by J.S. Bach that I know come from the hands of Walcha, and I absolutely love it. Looking for performances of the WTC on youtube, I found one by him, but playing the harpsichord. I would appreciate if someone could comment on this performance.

Also, it would be great to know what you think about the WTC being played on an organ and if there's some great version of it for this instrument. It seems reasonable to me that it's played on an organ considering that, according to Wikipedia, Bach knew J.C.F. Fischer's _Ariadne musica neo-organoedum_, published in 1715, and even used some themes of this work on his own.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Allerius said:


> Most of the organ music by J.S. Bach I know from the hands of Walcha, and I absolutely love it. Looking for performances of the WTC on youtube, I found one by him, but playing the harpsichord. I would appreciate if someone could comment this performance.
> 
> Also, it would be great to know what you think about the WTC being played on an organ and if there's some great version of it for this instrument. It seems reasonable to that it's played on an organ considering that, according to Wikipedia, Bach knew J.C.F. Fischer's _Ariadne musica neo-organoedum_, published in 1715, and even used some themes of this work on his own.


Walcha recorded WTC on harpsichord twice, the first on a revival instrument, an Ammer, and the second for DG on a real baroque harpsichord, a Ruckers I think. I think both show their age a bit - his rhythms tend to be stiffer than some of the latest ideas about how to play Bach on harpsichord.

There are several complete recordings of WTC on organ: Daniel Boccaccio, Bernard Lagacé, Louis Thiry, and I'm sure there's a fourth I'm forgetting. None of them are favourites for me. Part of the problem is style, part of the problem is they don't seem to chose instruments I like. There are also recordings with just a selection of preludes and fugues on organ, and some complete WTCs which mix organ, clavichord, piano and harpsichord.

The most impressive WTC on organ I know is on this Cd by Wim van Beek


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Mandryka said:


> There are several complete recordings of WTC on organ: Daniel Boccaccio, Bernard Lagacé, Louis Thiry, *and I'm sure there's a fourth I'm forgetting*. None of them are favourites for me. Part of the problem is style, part of the problem is they don't seem to chose instruments I like. There are also recordings with just a selection of preludes and fugues on organ, and some complete WTCs which mix organ, clavichord, piano and harpsichord.


There is a fourth with Robert Costin and a fifth with Frédéric Desenclos. And Book II with Christoph Bossert. Neither of these are favorites of mine. Given all these unattractive recordings I wonder if most of the WTC is unsuited for organ.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Colin Tilney recorded book 1 on clavichord and book 2 on both harpsichord and fortepiano. His set is highly individual.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

larold said:


> Colin Tilney recorded book 1 on clavichord and book 2 on both harpsichord and *fortepiano*. His set is highly individual.


That's news to me. Have you got any link to the fortepiano recording.


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

Bulldog said:


> I love Gulda's Bach. How about you?


I remember hearing one of the preludes on the radio and I had to stop the car to hear who had played it. I immediately wanted to buy his box set. I remember it was 74.95 + tax which was far more than I had spent before. A full price purchase <grin> when I was quite thrifty back then. Well, I rationalized that it was the WTC afterall and I would never tire of it, and I would never tire of his lyrical approach.

Also, in those years, CDs were quite new and I was happily getting used to the idea that CDs would never get degraded or wear out.

These showed up in my email years ago..

"In Friedrich Gulda's recording of The Well- Tempered Clavier two significant events in the history of Western music meet. One of these is this exceptional recording. It originates in the years of 1972/73, the highand endpoint of the collaboration between the Austrian pianist and the sound-sorcerer from Villingen, Germany, Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer. Since 1969, Gulda had been using the Black Forest studio's state-of-the-art technical capabilities for the recording of the music cycles of Beethoven, Debussy, and Mozart, as well as his own work. A Steinway Grand Imperial was hauled into the MPS studio especially for Gulda's use. You can still see the marks left from where the instrument had been precisely placed to the millimeter so that the piano's sonority could be optimally captured. All of this is what makes Gulda's interpretations so bold and meaningful to this day. The optimal microphone placements on the piano strings reduces the distance between Bach's work and the audience, allowing the listener to physically experience the music. The Steinway sounds out in full stereo; its extreme dynamics creates a wide emotional spectrum, ranging from delicate intimacy to unbridled extroversion."
"When awarded the Vienna Beethoven Ring in 1969, he rejected it with grand gesture, one incident of many in a long and tortuous relationship with his home town. He played Mozart in Vienna's holy of holies, the Musik- verein, tapping along with his feet. On another occasion, he and his girlfriend appeared on stage naked for a rendition of Schumann songs on the recorder. 
Gulda turned more and more to jazz for musical nourishment. Completely disregarding the printed programmes during classical concerts, he would treat his audiences (who were not always happy about the privilege) to extended improvis- ations in the middle of pieces and to performances of his own compositions. After 1995 he also played regular techno sessions with the Liverpool DJ Vertigo. 
Gulda's attempt to launch a second career as a jazz pianist was hindered by the distrust of jazz fans, who were unsure of his motives. In any event, his ambition to scale the fence between "classical" and "popular" music - or to tear it down altogether - failed, largely because he came too strongly from the former. "Jazz," Gulda once explained, "is the music of our day, the only modern, progressive music. Schoenberg is not really new, neither is Bartok, and the experimental composers certainly aren't. They are only trying to cast the past in concrete. Schoenberg does it dogmatically, Bartok with folklore." "


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## ribonucleic (Aug 20, 2014)

Of the versions I've heard, I would probably go with Hewitt (2009) on piano and Kenneth Gilbert on harpsichord, were I restricted to one each.


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## Over the Rainbow (Oct 12, 2018)

I think Bach supreme works can embarrassed by the very dense nature of Bach: no silence, no breathing IMHO.
And I find the RICHTER RCA recording, his way of playing allows you to forget what is written above


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

Over the Rainbow said:


> I think Bach supreme works can embarrassed by the very dense nature of Bach: no silence, no breathing IMHO.
> And I find the RICHTER RCA recording, his way of playing allows you to forget what is written above


That's new to me. I'll have to see if Richter does the same for me.

But would I want silences in JsB? I've never thought about playing some of the works with silent breaks. There's so many possibilities. I'll try it, thanks.

And welcome to the forum.


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## Over the Rainbow (Oct 12, 2018)

Luchesi said:


> That's new to me. I'll have to see if Richter does the same for me.
> 
> But would I want silences in JsB? I've never thought about playing some of the works with silent breaks. There's so many possibilities. I'll try it, thanks.
> 
> And welcome to the forum.


Thanks Sir,

You are right, we don't need silence.
But Richter's game allows the listener to "breathe" and thus stay really focused on this fantastic piece of art (at least me)

I listened to excerpts from Koroliov and Feinberg today, whatever the interpretative quality, I did not find exactly this possibility to "breathe" and so to fully enjoy this magnificent work.

Best Regards


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Edwin Fischer and Samuel Feinberg on piano, and Wanda Landowska and Kenneth Gilbert on harpsichord


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Bach - WTC I Prelude and fugue no. 5 in D major BWV 850 
- Brachetta | Netherlands Bach Society






This Prelude and fugue in D major, performed by Guillermo Brachetta for All of Bach, is a good example of gestures in music. As is often the case, the prelude is constructed of a single musical gesture that occurs repeatedly in variations. The fugue revolves around the "grand gesture" at the beginning, which is an ornamentation of fast notes.

This Prelude and fugue is part of Bach's Wohltemperirte Clavier. Composing 48 keyboard pieces in all 24 keys was the sort of challenge Bach enjoyed. In each of the two parts of the Wohltemperirte Clavier, he brought together the musical couple prelude and fugue 24 times; twelve in minor keys and twelve in major. In the preludes, he gave free rein to his imagination, and demonstrated mathematical tours de force in the fugues. In contrast to the iron discipline Bach had to apply to his church compositions, here he could abandon himself to intellectual Spielerei without worrying about deadlines.

Recorded for the project All of Bach on November 13th 2018 in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating http://bit.ly/2uZuMj5.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*Bach - WTC II Prelude and fugue no. 4 in C-sharp minor BWV 873*
Christine Schornsheim, harpsichordist
Harpsichord: Bruce Kennedy, 1989 after Michael Mietke






Each in their own way, the two works in this extensive diptych invite you to dance: a calm siciliano in the prelude, while the fugue lets rip a bit more in a quick giga. Bach maintains clarity in the music with three parts, which are essentially serious in character, but also light and full of energy, especially in the fugue. (All of Bach)


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> *Bach - WTC II Prelude and fugue no. 4 in C-sharp minor BWV 873*
> Christine Schornsheim, harpsichordist
> Harpsichord: Bruce Kennedy, 1989 after Michael Mietke


Fantastic sound!! I love this prelude, and Christine fully delivers. In the fugue, I prefer a quicker pace allowing for more energy/excitement, but still very well played.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Nowadays I almost always listen to the WTC on the harpsichord, as it sounds more authentic to my ears. My go-to performance is Kenneth Gilbert's, but I quite enjoy Leonhardt and Walcha playing it as well.


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

What about Vladmir Feltsman? Any comments?


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Bigbang said:


> What about Vladmir Feltsman? Any comments?


I have not heard Feltsman performing the WTC, but given his stellar recording of the Goldbergs, I will definitely check it out.

V


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

Varick said:


> I have not heard Feltsman performing the WTC, but given his stellar recording of the Goldbergs, I will definitely check it out.
> 
> V


The live GB's?


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## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

Bigbang said:


> The live GB's?


No studio. I did not realize Feltsman performed the Goldberg live. I have his 1991 recording.

V


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## Bigbang (Jun 2, 2019)

I think we may be referring to the same recording. I have copies of his 1991 musical heritage recorded at moscow conservatory--live. I could not find a recorded studio version.


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

Gould shines on Bach but is my favorite pianist anyway.


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