JS Bach's 48, played by Helmut Walcha.

Part 2, Preludes and Fugues 13 to 24. The Rest of Book One

That there have been no replies is not surprise to me. I remember when Rodrigo [R d S] gave a beautiful write up on the Art Of Fugue, and whilst I knew the music, I felt that I had nothing to say after his comentary.

What strikes me, though is that Walcha's performance is a far better way of getting to know this music initially and also for much deeper study than Edwin Fischer's wonderful set on the piano. What Walcha is scrupulous over compared to Fischer or in fact any other performance I have heard on the harpsichors is precise relaying of the rhythm. He actually is a player who takes the rhyhtm (and the necessary articulation to spring it from time to time) as the starting point. All expression is within a clear rhythmic frame. This does not rule out slowings [or even accelerations, though these are much rarer and more subtle), but the flexibility, it seems to me is more in the order of that which Klemperer employed at the height of his powers, rather than the more romantic effects used by Bruno Walter for example, to mention another great artist of similar generation. To realise that Walcha has a phenomenal sense of colour, one needs to find his organ recordings, whereas here he is content that Bach knew exactly what theeffect, colouristically, would be of his composition. It is an amazing thought that til I wrote this I had never missed the expressive colours of the piano in Walcha's harpsichord performance. This has a great deal to do with Wallcha's articulation. This really has to heard as it is so subtle and complex that it actually defies description, even in a long piece like this! But it always sounds so natural, as any great performance should. equally his touch allows a singing line, which is patently not the same as a uniformly legatto one.

The Prelude and Fugue in F sharp Major: It is surprising that in a work whose primary purpose is pedagogic, that so much joy is to be found, and this prelude has nothing but sweetness and light in it; it is also very short. The Fugue naturally flows from it though there is no thematic relationship. It is based on two lovely ideas which sing intricately and in contrast rhythmically. This hardly sounds like a learned style, except that is exactly what it it is. Another model fugue.

The minor of the pair, is not hard to grasp and again an example of the duality of the minor mode. The prelude is entirely untroubled and animated, and this leads to a a fugue which is less full of short notes, and proceeds at a measured tread, though the material is remarkably varied as to its rate of notation. Here is an example of Walcha's sense of rhythm as the theme is by no means easily got the first time if it played about with. No risk here.

G Major, in the Prelude requires a player of immense virtuosity to play it. If the prelude is a lightening display, the fugue is even more remarkable for its driving momentum. This is a peice pianists seem unable to avoid interpolating spurious dynamics, and this, it seems to me, is apt to spoil the very sweep of the piece, unlike any of the fugues up to now in the set. Indeed the variety of the pieces, is one of the marvels of it, as well the magesty.

The G Minor Prelude is has a stern sweep, at a quick sort of speed. And Fugue starts as sternly in a seemingly more measured way (though the pulse naturally matches if you keep it in you head between the two parts), but I guess this one where appreciation depends somewhat on a study of fugue as it is hardly a tour de force for the player or one that delves into a romantic world emotionally.

A flat Major, and a stately, but quite swift Preludes speaks of splendour and ceremony, though not of the French doted overture type. The Fugue has a game idea, which seems (as so often with Bach!) unlikely to work in combination either with itself or a counter subject. In its way it has all the splendour most obvious in the prelude, and has a considerable sense of lifting the emotion of the listener straight of.

Tragedy is implicite in the very first notes of the A flat Minor Prelude, and a wistful sadness certainly pervades this with its decending lines and steady rhythmic pulse. Then the Fugue presents us with a different view. serious, ceratinly, but strong (not loud as it is not densely scored or full of short notes) with phrases both rising and falling simultaineously, but overal a sense of optimism.

The A Major Prelude then comes along to show that the major is not necessarily all sweetness and light. This is serious, but not stuffy. The Fuge is a scream. Is it in two or three in a bar? We are left in some doubt for several bars, even if the pulse soon enough settles in a three. But the theme against a steady three in the other parts when it reappears is of course magically transformed. Now how can an instrument without much in the way of dynamic contrast (and no Walcha does not play about between 4 and 8 foot stops) manage these prodigeous rhythmic shapes, when the notes all look the same on the page. It is back to articulation. Not the sort affected by some pianist who insist on a sort of super stacatto, stacatissimo if you like, but a variation of the duration of the touch, much as an actor would declame lines, within a staedy if not inflexible fframe of pulse.

A Minor is really a key we associate with profoundly sad music from Bach, but not in this Prelude. There is a huge energy here, almost manic if played too fast, but here just judged to present the feel of industrious though on the part of the composer, and the Fugue then is cooler, more thoughtful. A sort of logiacl ripost to the excess energy of the prelude if you like. This a long way from from the weighty emotion of the Violin Concerto. More a private view of the irrepressible person Bach was among familly and friends, rather than the stern public figure. Serious to an extent, but with a sense of mischief as well.

B flat Major, and This Preludes is a favourite of mine, though I love them all. It bristles with life and frankly something so myrthful and energetic you want to laugh out loud, not at it, but with it! The angular Fugue subject again seems an unlikely start, but it soon starts a joyful uplift. How can a series of organised sounds be so powerul to raise the spirits?

B flat Minor is a horrible key to play (five flat in the key signature for a start), but that is irrelevant here. The Prelude set of in weighty fashion, and gradually bemoes more sonorous, as the lower reaches of the keyboard are employed. Bach's composition is entirely self balancing and clear on the harpsichord. No need to help it along with the pianoforte, which transforms its very essence. Essentially the mood is mellow and not actually at all sad, even if the begining sounds like it might be. The Fugue is grand and powerful and possess a steady pulse, and nothing angular or rough, it become consiliatory as it developes, though the sound world is low pitched and dark in the main.

B Major, on Strings this is a very right and distant key, and certainly Bach seems to have been thinking in a bright sonority, but this has always been a bit of a difficult one for me. Sometimes it just does not make much sense to me except as a rather beautiful succession of sounds. The Fugue is almost as odd, to my mind. This surely a case of studying it as a fuge and admiring its artistry, rather than being swept up with it.

The Final Prelude and Fugue from Book One. B Minor and we have almost turned the circle. There is a ceratin contained coolness in this prelude, set mainly high on the instrument. It has a clear tread which only hesitates twice in its flow and ends in like fashion. The Fugue is a tough thing. Severe and not consoling except that it is when you get it. The set does not end with a dazzle, but something profoundly life enhancing, once you crack it from a musical point of view! This is not the best place to start! But it certainly make for satisfying end the this part.

Let me say that the Second Book has a slightly different style, which I guess requires even more more musicality from the performer, and more selflessness, but I think it both greater music (and that is saying something) but probably harder to get to know, as well. I think it took me another ten years over Book One, but I now love the whole lot as one glorious phenomenon.

Fredrik

Dear Friends!

Part Three, the first twelve Preludes and Fugue in Book Two.

Book Two is a later work than the First, and is really a work from Bach's final maturity. The style is different and more even, though the variety of invention is just as remarkable. How it is performed, though, is something where there is less room for interpretive idiosyncrasy, and as Walcha is devoid of this trait he seems the ideal as a performer in my mind. Ceratinly the First Book represents a sumation of Bach's work in Keyboard fugue at the time, but it certainly was not all written for the purpose of creating a model set of diverse pices, and indeed there are some fascinating insights to be found in the score, as for example the thought that some of the pieces were transcribed, in new keys, to fit the scheme. For example the Prelude in E falt Minor is followed by a fugue D sharp Minor, which is the same tonality on a Well Tempwered Klavier of course, but it does suggest that the two parts started life independently. In Book Two there is a greater sense of the sweep of the set being contemplated before the start.

Thinking of this, in a strange way Edwin Fischer has a way of making the music sound somewhat like the learned Mozart who studied Bach's Fuges, but certainly never parodied the style. With Walcha, we get a singularly Bachian and full comprehended sense of style, which is so natural that one barely registeres the performances! And the effect of a row of Preludes and Fugues certainly is not monotonous, or even tiring in the way you might expect from an hour of harpsichord playing. Walcha was a product of an age that saw the rise in Germany of a "New Objectivity," which combined with attention to the scholarly approach to correct rendering of Baroque notataion - and getting the ornaments right is not so hard to do as the sources are clear on this. Bach wrote them out, and actually used a completely conventional notation - means that there are no irritating stylistic blemishes, which is not always the case in older performances. As to his approach to tempo and rubato, he is actually rather strick compared to that other harpsichord playing giant of his generation, Gustav Leonhardt, even if he could never be accused of rigidity or being wooden. Indeed the careful listener will note a structural approach where small deviations from the pricipal tempo are made and stuck to for whole musical paragraphs, and this indicates an approach to analysis which Schenker was advocating in the 1920s, based on a hierachy of agogics. That every details has its weight, but that underlying harmonic structure are actually bigger in importance and cannot be ignored within performance. This might sound a bit obscure, but in fact one of the most fluid and broad of musician-artists who studied with Schenker was Furtwangler, and there can be little doubt nowadays that his architectural view of music was as strang as any, even Klemperer's, but that he used this long term analysis to bring out things usualy passed over in performance, though some certain wonder at his broad changes of tempo at crucial nodes in the structure. Walcha, of course does not undulge what might very reasonably be regarded as wholely unjustified and unstylish tempi variations (within nthe context of Baroque music at least!), but his tempi are variable in the most subtle sense, and always in the long term structural way, rather than the more modern school of playing up the surface detail. He is simply plays very well, and at tempi that always allow the music to speak, though not always what might be expected if you are accustomed to pianistic perormances. What marks him out as unique is his way with articulation. Each line in a fugue will be articulated individually nd not the same as the others at differnt stages in their progress, so that each line has a clarity and clear musical shape evn within the tonal mass as whole. Again this is not random, though to try to explain it would be a long, hard and dry process! Best listen to it and be educated in what must be the most subtle and artistic application of it to be found, in my experiance, and unlikely to be repeated as fashion as changed in this regard. In a Thread sometime ago dedicated to a pianistic rendering of the Goldberg Variations, a Forum Member, on my recomendation obtained a Leonhardt recording it, and found that it tended to undermine the rhythm by little and not so little fluctuations of tempo, and rubato. I think he would find Walcha much easier to live with in this respect, though sadly I have been unable to get Walcha's legendary (and ellusive) recording of the Goldbergs to make a direct comparison. I shall refrain from stating my reaction to the great Leonhardt's performance of the 48. It is only opinion anyway and runs against the received critcal opinion nowadays, though the style was more controversial a generation or two ago! Walcha and Leohardt hartily disagrred in a most gentlemanly way. For all that critical opinion has not reacted against Walcha's style, though it is not universally praised.

C Major is such a sunlight key, it seems from all the masters. Grand is is the opening here and stately is low set sonority. We are setting out in a big journey. And the Fugue follows in like manner. It would make a good study just from a record as it is so clear. But what gets me is the fact that even without surface fireworks, it isfull of momentum and energy, and also an uplighting effect.

The C Minor Prelude is so happy it might be in the major. Jaunty and quite fast, it only probes the minor intervals in the scale at all in the second part, and then not in a sad way emotionally. The Fugue is rather more thoughtful, and has a tendency for phrases to wend their way downwards to some extent, and yet the effect is again positive.

Walcha employss the Lute stop in the bass in the Prelude in C sharp, and the gently swaying flows is very beautiful and rather intimate till the second have when it springs off, without the lute stop into a quick Allegre, which predicts the mood os the Fugue, which is rather jolly, but keepd gnawing away ata wide intervals in the opening idea. This is again an easy fugue to listen to without any special study.

At last some meditation and reflection in the C sharp Minor Prelude, which feels truely in the minor mode and is sparely scored in moderate tempo. Mordent and trills abound as expressive devices, and in this respect as we shall see elsewhere in Book Two, the French Style was by now woven into Bach's compositional style, though really he synthesised and international style from the French and German elements, and in a way was the most individual of all. The fugue rolls of deceptively in roling over phrases that offer a possitive release from the prelude. Thoughtful, not clouded... also it is surprisingly long, and is an example of Bach writing very long lines where the theme is not actually repeated, but modified.

The D Major is lovely. It swings along with full vital energy given by varying the rhythm within a steady pulse, which gives a surprising potential to the phrases. The middle, even though this is not a fugue, contains a mirror version of the theme from the first part, which returns as a coda. It has all the tension of a Haydn Sonata movement. Really this music swings gently, and Walcha certainly allows it to. The Fugue is then mor even , but carrying a definate forward motion, not least because part of the theme is a succession of repeated even notes, which in the counterpoint helps drive the music forward. It is simply a very beautiful piece.

D Minor, The Prelude is weighty, quick, and full of portent. I coulld imagine that it might be tempting to play it very fast indeed, but I am sure that Walcha is correct to make it fast rather than VERY fast. The Fugue is strange indeed. It dives off and almost straight away converts from a triplets beat to a duple, and the play thoughout is with this duality. It is a life enhancing tour de fource!

The gentle E flat prelude Walcha uses the Lute stop for to enchanting effect. I just realised that really the "pulse" is gentle but essentially it is in relatively quick triplets, but the effect is a gently swaying tune of a consoling bass-line. The end has a definately comic turn, which I won't spoil. Back on the noraml stop, the Fugue has a fascinating rhytmic tendency to the French or even Handelian dotted note short note or group (of very short notes), and contrasts in every way with the prelude.

The begining of the D sharp Minor Prelude presents with a sort of pertetuum mobile, with a short pause in the middle. It is just this sort of music that requires a subtle rubato to avoid it sounding like a amchine. Walcha makes it a delight, long appogiatura and all at the middle pause and end! The fugue comes in a steady pulse and has another theme with repeated notes which is a challenge to player as they could straight-jacket the performance, but not here. Not the easiest fugue to get to know!

E major is sometimes a key to draw something mad and energetic out of Bach. Not here this is bright clean and gentle and poetic in non-profound way. The second half then delves deeper, with developed thematic ideas of extreme beauty. It amazes me how gently Walcha lets it become airborne! The Fugue starts of grandly and seems to spring straight out of the prelude, and it soon inhabits the top of the keyboard lightening the effect. Each entry of a voice seems to raisee the emotional stress of it, and yet it never becomes hectic. The end is wonderful.

E Minor, in Book One brought out an extreme piece, and this is rather easier to rationalise. The rhythm has a strange way of placing important notes, but it is in the second half of the Prelude that you see where Bach has been leading you. Formally this an Invention. The Fugue has a duple triplet duality, and it keeps going till you thinks sort of over, and then it syarts off afress, to reach a proper ending!

Grandeur and an even steady tread introduce the F Major Prelude, and the whole range of the keyboard soon is employed, though the ideas tend to wind downwards, and the feeling is of almost a desperation. This a definately Major in Mode, but not feel. There is something caged in. This then is where the Fugue allows a release! And a jolly rolling affair it is, all the joy is now "unconfined!"

Now we have something as emotionally as tragic as anything in Book One in the F Minor Prelude, even if the means of expression is measured and almost resigned. Like all bach, it never becomes entirely bleak, but the consolation is definately episodic. The Fugue find enrgy and industry but little more in way of comfort.

After writing this I can more easily why Book Two is the harder music to get at first discovery. It means tend to be gentler and its emotional scope less extreme on the surface. Perhaps the subtle way each note and phrase is weighted and put into context with the pieces makes for a more rewarding experience in the end, but trying to describe the pieces is much harder. In a way, what I am trying to get some people to do is try this music, and it seems to me that Book One should be the start, and Book Two, the follow up. I hope this is not too boring and long. To me this is the most wonderful music, but Book Two does defy words.

Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik H:

That there have been no replies is not surprise to me. I remember when Rodrigo [R d S] gave a beautiful write up on the Art Of Fugue, and whilst I knew the music, I felt that I had nothing to say after his comentary.
Fredrik

Dear Fredrik,

Thank you very much for this splendid contribution, which I shall consider carefully. Certainly you write more about the music than about Walcha, but still you manages to characterize him aptly. My first encounter with Das Wohltemperierte Clavier, bisides the score, was incidentally this recording by Walcha from 1960-61, which my father gave me for Xmas 1962. And I was completely absorbed into it for many months.

Regards,

A Disaster, my post is lost all two hours of work. I'll try again tomorrow, but that is very disheartening.

Major appologies F

Perhaps that was a good thing. Book Two is something beyond description in words. It has to be listened to, contemplated in the score, and, if you can, played. Of course I view this music as from the stand-point of a string player, and so am spared the technical demands it makes!

Why would I write such a sort of commentary on this music. The answer is simply that I love music above all but a few really good friends and I want ot share my unbounded enthusiasm for the music. The performance must be great, selfless - hopefully -, and compelling. Walcha actually achieves all this in his realisation, though I would be the last to say his is the only way, but it is the best I have found. I can find no weakness after a very long period of serious study. It is not a flambouyant style, but one deeply rooted in a study and comprehension of the music. By this stage in Walcha's career, the work of a greater part of a lifetime, and certainly one oe the most important sets of Bach on records, not because of the performer, but because of the performer's responsibility: to uses his own talents to the full in the service of the art for which they were granted. What we can be grateful for is that Walcha's outlout was upward at the potential within his chosen repertoire, rather than inward at his own ego. This very lack of ego may well explain why this set is not to be had as far as I know now EMI France have deleteed it. TO Stephan, Is it available on Electrola? The Goldbergs and Partitas are legendary recordings as well from HW. It would be nice to see all these things re-emerge in the English speaking world...

My wish would be that one or two of you go out and get some of this music - in stylish performances - and come back here with your own views. That would make me so very pleased, and that was what all this was about,

Sincerely, Fredrik

Fredrik

If you compose your posts as a "Wordpad" file on your own computer then "save" it to your hard drive. Then you can "copy" and "paste" your post into the forum post box at any time. So you can always re-post without effort if anything goes wrong in sending and you have a copy to refer to.

But if you prefer to compose in the forum's posting box then just swipe and "copy" the entire post just before sending. This also gives you a second chance to repost without losing anything.

I am assuming you have just lost your post on sending. It happens sometimes.

BTW:I have recently been enjoying Walcha playing Bach on the organ thanks to your previous posts.

Regards
Nime

Dear Nime,

It's incredible how something so outwardly so austere as Walcha's style can be so warm and embracing after a short while, or am I off beam here? You are allowed to say, "Yes," even though it's my Thread!

Fredrik

Dear Fredrik,
finally understanding it was ME you were asking (from your hint in the solar thread...) I can answer: They have his Organ works (1947-1952, 10 CDs) on Archiv, and it has always been on my wishlist. In fact, after this most enjoyable thread, I'm about to buy it.

cheers
Stefan

quote:

Originally posted by sjust:
Dear Fredrik,
finally understanding it was ME you were asking (from your hint in the solar thread...) I can answer: They have his Organ works (1947-1952, 10 CDs) on Archiv, and it has always been on my wishlist. In fact, after this most enjoyable thread, I'm about to buy it.

cheers
Stefan

Dear Stephan,

Do that! And the recording is fine too, and not like Columbia in 1930! You Know what I mean! Don't fear the old Arkiv recordings are clear, but with a good set it is actually as beautiful as the music and its reading...

Good luck, but do look for the harpsichord issues on EMI Germany when you go to the record shop next for me. If it is out I will buy the stuff in modern issues rather than lovely 40 year old LPs! I carefully transfered them to CD to keep them as clean as they are!

Fred

Dear Friends!

Over a hundred views, and only answers from Nime, Stefan, and pe zulu! Quality, yes, but not much quantity. I promise not to eat the next poster, unless they advocate that a piano might be a better instrument to use! Only joking.

Go on, be brave. Some one, here, must at least know and possibly even love this this music!

Sincerely, Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik H:
Dear Friends!

I promise not to eat the next poster, unless they advocate that a piano might be a better instrument to use! Only joking.

Go on, be brave. Some one, here, must at least know and possibly even love this music!

Sincerely, Fredrik

Better sharpen your teeth! I was just thinking that the organ is always preferable to the harpischord. Whoever is playing!

quote:

Originally posted by Nime:

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik H:
Dear Friends!

I promise not to eat the next poster, unless they advocate that a piano might be a better instrument to use! Only joking.

Go on, be brave. Some one, here, must at least know and possibly even love this music!

Sincerely, Fredrik

Better sharpen your teeth! I was just thinking that the organ is always preferable to the harpischord. Whoever is playing!

Dear Nime,

In the 48, I hope you are jesting!! But in the Art Of Fugue, Leonhardt makes a very credible case for it being meant fot the two manual Harpsichord, in a very long (10 or so pages as I rememebr it) note that acompanied his DHM recording of the Art Of Fugue, whilst Walcha who naturally had the technical ability to choose the Organ or the Harpsichord for the Art Of Fugue, and I am inclined to side with him in using the Organ as it sustains the lines, while the 48 makes no demand for a big sustain as the music either repeats the notes or is fast moving anyhow. Is there a recording of the 48 played on the Organ? Who performs? I'd certainly be interested to give it a try. See I can't even bight you for the thought! Mind I might want to after I've heard it played that way!!!

It suddenly struct me after the report that the fantastic range in the 48 involves every possible type of Fugue (except pure Cannon) and in the Preludes ranges from relatively simple two part Inventions to the full blown French Overutre (in Bk 2 No 13) to a very early essa, historically speaking, in Sonata Form, which is Book two, number 5 in D. Was there no end to old Bach's comprehensiveness? The old revitalised and the new gleefully worked with. The Flute Trio in the Musical Offering is barely in Baroque style either: That is as much in the Galante style which ushered in the Classical of Haydn or Mozart as any by his sons!

There is something in Bach for everyone! And everyone should try it. I'll help anyone start who finds the starting point difficult. That's what this Thread is about...

Sincerely, Fredrik

Dear Fredrik

I know two and a half recordings of WTC played on organ.

Frederic Desenclos, dividing the project between two restored baroque organs and two newly built organs. His approach is very Walcha-like even mimicking his register changes, except that he is much more historically informed, than Walcha was. Counterpoint clear, but the sound of the recording only adequate. Interpretation probably to your taste.

Louis Thiery playing on a rather small-scale organ. A beautiful, calm interpretation. Counterpoint clear too, and overall sound better than Desenclos´ CDs.

Christoph Bossert (only WTC part two - he has not recorded part one). This is a terrible unimaginative interpretation.

Antony Newman and Bernard Lagacé has recorded WTC on organ too. Newman is too superficial to my taste. I own Lagacés Kunst der Fuge, it is reliable but not remarkable, I don´t know his WTC.

Robert Levin and Daniel Chorzempa in their WTC-sets play some pieces on organ, and both very fast and elegant. Both also use harpsichord, clavichord and hammerklavier for the other pieces.

So I can recommend Desenclos and Thiery.

As to Die Kunst der Fuge: If played on the organ, it is preferable to play all four parts manualiter without use of the pedal. In fact this is what many organists do. The problem is, that the lovest part isn´t conceived tecnically as a pedalpart, and is almost unplayable on pedal. Furthermore the balance between the parts is uncomfortably changed, if the lowest part is played with 16´ and the three upper voices played with 8´ in the way Walcha, Rogg, Alain and many others do, even if the voice-crossings occurring between the two lower voices seem to exclude a lower sounding registration of the lowest part. As to organ contra harpsichord I think the sustaining power of the organ makes a rendering on organ preferable, when the manualiter demand is observed. But you don´t know the work for good, if you haven´t heard Gustav Leonhardts recording on harpsichord ( his second recording for German Harmonia Mundi).

Regards,

quote:

Originally posted by pe-zulu:
Dear Fredrik

I know two and a half recordings of WTC played on organ.

Frederic Desenclos, dividing the project between two restored baroque organs and two newly built organs. His approach is very Walcha-like even mimicking his register changes, except that he is much more historically informed, than Walcha was. Counterpoint clear, but the sound of the recording only adequate. Interpretation probably to your taste.

Louis Thiery playing on a rather small-scale organ. A beautiful, calm interpretation. Counterpoint clear too, and overall sound better than Desenclos´ CDs.

[...].

So I can recommend Desenclos and Thiery.

Dear Poul,

Which labels? I'll put them on my wish-list.

------------------------------------------------------------

As to Die Kunst der Fuge: If played on the organ, it is preferable to play all four parts manualiter without use of the pedal. In fact this is what many organists do. The problem is, that the lovest part isn´t conceived tecnically as a pedalpart, and is almost unplayable on pedal. Furthermore the balance between the parts is uncomfortably changed, if the lowest part is played with 16´ and the three upper voices played with 8´ in the way Walcha, Rogg, Alain and many others do, even if the voice-crossings occurring between the two lower voices seem to exclude a lower sounding registration of the lowest part.

Actually these points were a large part of Leonhardt's arguement, though he was much more detailed than that...

As to organ contra harpsichord I think the sustaining power of the organ makes a rendering on organ preferable, when the manualiter demand is observed. But you don´t know the work for good, if you haven´t heard Gustav Leonhardts recording on harpsichord ( his second recording for German Harmonia Mundi).

I have studied the Leonhardt records, and own Davitt Morrony recording (splendid), Koriolov's piano rendidtion (some head shaking over this, though I sort of like some of it), and my favourite, even though it is very wrong from the historical perspective, Karl Munchinger's set on mostly strings, which the Cannons on assorted instruments. I have only heard one Fugue of it from Walcha.

Regards,

So which Organ set wopuld you send me to. I know that I'll get Walcha, as he is too fine an artist to ignore over the 16 foot issue, but the music diserves the search to find the finest...

It is strange but Bach becomes "the" sourse of tranquility for me in a world, rapidly going wrong...

Fredrik

Dear Frederik

Desenclos: TRITON
Thiery: ARION

Leonhardt argued, that Die Kunst der Fuge is definitely for manual keyboard. He concluded harpsichord or organ and recorded it twice on harpsichord. I think the organ should be the obvious choice.

But Walchas Kunst der Fuge is a magnificent interpretation. It almost bursts with internal drama, reflecting (in my mind) our complex and inscrutable existence and a marked degree of fatalism.

Recordings of Die Kunst der Fuge on the organ are many (about twenty available at the moment), but only a few on Walchas level.

My favorite next to Walcha is Wolfgang Rübsam (Philips 1977 - not available at the moment). He uses pedal to the full like Walcha. I have to reflect for a while to find out which available recording(s) to recommend you.

In 1965 I attended a concert in Copenhagen, Stuttgart Kammerorchester and Karl Münchinger playing Die Kunst der Fuge (part of a PR tourne for their recording).
Later I aquired the recording, and it is the only chamber orchester version, I can stand.
I own Moroneys version (his first for Harmonia Mundi Fr.) too. Very intellectual and ascetic. Pure music.
Koroliov is IMO too romantic, opens fx. every contrapunctus piano and concludes fortissimo.

You are not the only one for whom Bach is a daily source of peace and inner harmony.

Regards,

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik H:

There is something in Bach for everyone! And everyone should try it. I'll help anyone start who finds the starting point difficult. That's what this Thread is about...

Sincerely, Fredrik

OK Fredrik how should I start ? - I have only two Bach recordings - the details of which I don't recall and I'm not at home to check. One of Toccata and Fugue organ music and some CDs of the Brandenburg Concertos. Care to recommend me a few to buy ??

Ian

Glenn Gould of course is the benchmark for the 48, with Wendy/Walter Carlos a close second.

Once I owned Glenn Goulds 48, and gave it many careful listenings, but in the long run I couldn´t stand his undesirable eccentricities. This is 98% Gould and 2% Bach.

I dont´t own it any more.

Did you sell it to someone?

No, I didn´t want to spread an IMO completely misguided wiew upon Bach. Furthermore it was vinyl aquired second-hand, and I don´t use this modality any more. So I have transferred many of my LP´s to CD.

A man of honour and dignity to be sure.

quote:

Originally posted by pe-zulu:
Dear Frederik

Desenclos: TRITON
Thiery: ARION

Leonhardt argued, that Die Kunst der Fuge is definitely for manual keyboard. He concluded harpsichord or organ and recorded it twice on harpsichord. I think the organ should be the obvious choice.

But Walchas Kunst der Fuge is a magnificent interpretation. It almost bursts with internal drama, reflecting (in my mind) our complex and inscrutable existence and a marked degree of fatalism.

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You see I think that Bach's Music is the most Fatalistic of the lot. It has to be the way it is, even if that is sometimes a hard path to follow, but this Fatalism does not extend to Morbidity in my opinion. Indeed the very reality of the Music is it that Bach seems to have been compelled to write it out of an inner drive, which gives it a purity, simply unrivalled, but it is for all that Music that is spiritually uplifting to me in a way only rivalled by Haydn's Music. There is something terribly intense in Walcha's conception of all this music. Not on the surface, where it rarely is driven into excitement, but at the deeper level, which compels me to listen, quite without considering the perormance at all, usually. That was Walcha's Genius... So I know that, when I can, I'll get this recording [of the Art Of Fugue], and I'll wait for Rubsam to reappear as well, if Philips ever issue it again.

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Recordings of Die Kunst der Fuge on the organ are many (about twenty available at the moment), but only a few on Walchas level.

My favorite next to Walcha is Wolfgang Rübsam (Philips 1977 - not available at the moment). He uses pedal to the full like Walcha. I have to reflect for a while to find out which available recording(s) to recommend you.

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But I would love to supplement this pair with an organ set (just one!) - all on the manuals with no 16 foot stop, so your thoughts here (as elsewhere!) are and will be much appreciated.

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In 1965 I attended a concert in Copenhagen, Stuttgart Kammerorchester and Karl Münchinger playing Die Kunst der Fuge (part of a PR tourne for their recording).
Later I aquired the recording, and it is the only chamber orchester version, I can stand.

I own Moroneys version (his first for Harmonia Mundi Fr.) too. Very intellectual and ascetic. Pure music.

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I think Munchinger's performance of it is about perfect in its way, even if it is all wrong from the historical perpective. At least it works in the service of the music. Morony makes no conscession at all, and yet his performance has survived with me and I keep coming back to it though I cannot find the inner warmth of the sort that is so much part of Walcha's other Bach or for that matter Munchinger's orchestral approach [in the Art Of Fugue]. One day I guess I'll catch onto what Morony was trying to acheive, but then I am quite slow to get things sometimes. It took twenty years to get to love the Missa Solemnis! And as Long with the Art Of Fugue. Only about ten years to really love Book Two of the 48, though I enjoyed Book One (almost all of it) from day one. Do you aggree about the difference?

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Koroliov is IMO too romantic, opens fx. every contrapunctus piano and concludes fortissimo.

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I listened to some of K earlier. Yes, it is not right at all. Indeed it is 3 years since I last put it on and I don't think it will stay with me much longer. Oxfam appreciate gifts of Classical recordings! In fact you hit on one of the difficiencies of the piano. There is no need to interpolate dynamics. Bach has written them in, in the very conception of the music! So it becomes a distraction, and no assistance to the performance, however Artistic it might be trying to be.

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You are not the only one for whom Bach is a daily source of peace and inner harmony.

Regards,

Thanks for such a lovely post!

Yoours sincerely, Fredrik

PS: I started this with a view to encouraging others, and here am I being encouraged and helped more myself, than I am helping others. This was not started as a self-serving enterprise...

quote:

Originally posted by KRO:
Glenn Gould of course is the benchmark for the 48, with Wendy/Walter Carlos a close second.

Dear KRO,

Please don't try that one on me! There was a Thread which caused me almost to quite posting altogether (and did not post for six months in the Music Room afterwards), about Gould's recordings of the Goldbergs. Do a search. I shall not post a link, but there was a far too exhaustive debate on it, which only Rodrigo de Sa and muself were on one side from begining to end! Basically the piano is not the instrument, and basically, there are very few pianist musicians who actually overcome the fundamentaal wrongness of the necessary style of pianism. IMO Gould was not one of them, but as this is my Thread, I shall refrain from further comment on pianistic performances of Bach. And anyone who thinks that that is a bit off, had better examine that old Thread!!!

Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by KRO:
A man of honour and dignity to be sure.

Oh yes, that may be an adequate description of the private person Glenn Gould. Nor shall I discuss Gould further in this thread.

Dear Ian,

Of the keyboard music, well I'd start with the Organ as it is easier to take at first go than the harpsichord, but mostly the greatest performances are tied up in very large, and often expensive sets. I'll give this some thought....

Fredriklook out for the Decca Double CD of Peter Hurford playing Great Organ Music by Bach. Whilst the performances are not in the Walcha or MC Alain league, they are fine. I would criticisme them for being too noisy on too large and bright organs, but this an occasional vice. The set contains a balanced range of music and would form a good introduction at least, though it ceratinly is not the last word. I had the set some years ago...

Fredrik