The Well Tempered Klavier

quote:

Where I don’t agree with you is in the assigning of value to anything else in comparison. Schubert was genuinely Schubert and this is why he is so special. If he tried to copy Bach then he would be no more than someone who copied someone else (kind of like the Asian car makers).

Dear Doug,

I could not agree more.

Some of my very favourite music is by the "tune-master" Franz Schubert! I love this music in a very different way to Bach's. For me Schubert's was my very first classical music, though Elgar's music was the very first that I encountered that might be called "classical" in the broadest sense.

I loved Schubert's music [and the Elgar's] from the first realisation of a great tunes or several dozen welded together in wonderous beauty!

Now Bach came differently. Firstly through the relatively easy to grasp Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites, and then the Cello Suites, and moved slowly into the keyboard works and Violin Sonatas and Partitas, and eventually into the Art Of Fugue and the Well Tempered Clavier. Each stage with Bach has come differently to my love for the music of especially Schubert. With Bach it starts with a revelation of a musician's genius and my attempt to understand what it is he is driving at emotionally for this emotional aspect is much less easy to get immediately with Bach for the music is not obviously sad or joyful in its way of employing melody - yet it has a magnificent ability to convey some huge sense of strength and human warmth after a while, but it is rarely obvious that it is tragic, or joyful of itself. It happens that the better I know the music the more I find the joy in it, and have grown to love it above all other music in a sense. The sense that means even now that Bach represents between a third and a half of all my musical listening. This is no chore! But something of an elemental love affair ...

But I don't call Bach a greater composer than Schubert. To make such a judgement is well beyond my capacity or authority! I would not want to be without either in any case.

Now if I seem to disparage modern pop-music, I think you will see that I said I did not enjoy what appears - compared to Bach, though I did not state that explicitely - trite and simple to the extreme.

What I did not say is that this makes it - as an absolute truth or generally applicable rule cast in iron - less valid than the music of Bach. Clearly pop speaks to millions and Bach to only hundreds of thousands, so arguably the pop music of our day is far greater than the music of old Bach.

My sole crutch in my defence of Bach's greatness, is that like the other classical and baroque masters - his music speakes to each new generation even as a sort of Universal phenomenon that can be understood by people whose cultures and outlooks are very far evolved from the culture and outlook of Bach's time.

That at least is one defination of the great in music - its durability over the generations.

But I shall not be here to see if we are still listening to Oasis' music in two centuriess' time. I will not even speculate as all that would show is personal prejudice! Of course my view exists, but it is personal and of no generally applicable value!!!

Thanks for bringing this issue of relative cultural evaluations of different art works in a similar genre. It is a very important point, IMO.

ATB from George

Does anyone feel the urge to dig a little deeper into one of the Preludes and Fugues, from Book 1 or Book 2?

Not on the Forum!

If I express my string view, all too often it is my view not the subject that gets discuused.

Also I find it phenomenally hard work. I once wrote a description of the whole work and if I can find it in the archive i will post a link. I may ave packed in half way through book two, but I am not sure.

ATB from George

PS: It is not a very interesting thing to read I am sure, and I am equally sure that my views will have evolved since, but here it is all the same:

http://forums.naim-audio.com/e...052964007#2052964007

GFFJ Senior Member
Posted Fri 05 August 2005 20:50
A Disaster, my post is lost all two hours of work. I'll try again tomorrow, but that is very disheartening.

Major appologies, Fredrik
Posts: 12577 | Location: Saint Johns, WR2, UK Registered: Sat 09 July 2005


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GFFJ Senior Member
Posted Fri 05 August 2005 21:06
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

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Dear Mike,

I could not remember why I did not finish it, but clearly the transmission failed, so the fourth part was lost, never to be done again! Not such a big loss perhaps!

ATB from George [Fredrik]

Posted Tue 02 August 2005 21:55
Dear Friends,

As promised six months or more ago! My thoughts on Walcha's recording, published in 1961.

The forty eight preludes and fugues in all the keys, twice, is such a huge and daunting work that to truly get to know them is a big task in itself. Not as daunting as the Art Of Fugue in my view, but surely Fischer had it right when he said that The Well Tempered Klavier, "is the Old Testamant, and Beethoven's Piano Sonatas the New!"

Half the problem is that Bach wrote such wonderful Fugues, and yet the form itself is not always easily accessible to the fairly casual listener not versed in counter-point. Some of Bach's Fugues at first aquaintance can be somewhat impenetrable, until you get used to the idea of thematic combination, sometimes with several different subjects and sometimes with only one, treated to a succession of devices - augmentation (lengthening of all the note values proportionally), diminution (the opposite), mirror (playing the them upside down, roughly speaking!), elaboration, developement... Indeed after a while anyone can get quite good at spotting Bach having a wry smile, because he knows the listener would not have possibly dreamed what has just been written was possible! Number games were also very important to Bach and a study of this music on paper will soon reveal alsorts of numerical relationships, within pieces, and even between them, as well as allowing even more successful listen later. This all tends to add to the unapproachable mystique of Bach, the dusty mathematician, wrting a sort of exclusive and incomprehansible music, only for conoiseurs. I beleive this to absolute rot, and I have used some of these Preludes and Fugues to get people started on Classical Music, with an absolute look of shock on people's faces when all they thought they would get might be The Air from the Third Suite for Orchestra, or Wachet auf..., the advert for Lloyds when it was a Thoroughbred Among Banks! What always gets them is how Bach manages to capture the emotional and spiritual message clearly. When I explain the framework, they just wonder how that would not cripple the idea, but to Bach it merely adds spice to the task - a spur to even greater hieghts, if you like.

I am going to divide thus review into four parts (over four weeks, I hope), as it is beyond reason to expect to still be lucid trying to describe such a performance as this all in one go. Walch's EMI recording is not the first I have known. I learned a good deal about the music from Edwin Fischer's EMI set played on the piano and recorded between 1933 and 1935 the first completed recording, and still rightly available. It seems to me that the first records we hear often remain favourites. Twelve months after I found the Walcha set I have given the Fischer performance to a friend, explaining that I had found something even finer, and which had made me appreciate things in the music Fischer does not even address, not least because the piano is indisputably not what it was composed to be played on, and that the dynamics are usually all wrong as a result. Otherwise I have a few isolated example, but all on the piano.

The First Prelude, which is famous, not least because Gounod notoriously set the Ave Maria over in in a melody of his own invention which fits to Bach's harmonic ground plan, begins in a seemingly relaxed flow of gently detatched phrases, but straight away the ear should pick out the fact that the bass notes are played full length as Bach wrote, and not half length as the print has it! Indeed, the way that the bass should be played in various cases would (and been!) enough to write whole books on. The effect, however is on of a serene flow preparing us, perhaps for the rather more trenchant anf musically angular Fugue. Walcha again sees no need to rush and finds and easy gait that hardly deviates from the initial tempo. The effect is of two related pieces, even though all that binds them is tonality.

C Minor finds old JSB in sterner mode, but again the Prelude is smooth as to rhythm, at least till the Coda. Walcha manages the apparently impossible on the harpsichord. He brings out the crucial line thoughout, and it sings gloriously as any great Bach performance will, but within a detache style that actually shortens the sounded duration of the highlighted notes, though not their rhythmic value of course. The pulse is steady. The Fugue now sees Bach set a very plain theme At first in a bare octave, but introducing the other voices rather soon, which both makes the sound-world quite dense, though always clear on the harpsichord, which in a very brief span covers a lot of ground. Not a beginers fugue I'd say.

C sharp Major finds exhilaration in a rather short Prelude, which is persued by a wonderfully (and seemingly impossibly!) tuneful Fugue, which is full of light and joy and energy, and whaich again Walcha plays with a steady pulse though his tempo is faster matching the musical introduction of the Prelude.

C sharp Minor is anything but tragic in the Prelude. Not yet heroic (as some of the Preludes are later) it treads that happy paths of reaching an unclouded end. But the Fugue sets off in dark tones right at the bottom of the keyboard and hear we find Bach's seriousness of purpose matched by Walcha. Nothing is played with, and the result is apowerful emotional rendition completely devoid anything but a modest and great response to the text. The tempo is so apt, that it would be hard to say if it is slow or fast though the pulse is something just over 65.

D Major starts rather like sumeone very good strumming almost thoughtlessly a a line in the right hand over a pacing bass-line in a fashion I always think is comical. It is most like a sort of improvisation. Walcha does not miss the chance to change our view just before the end of this very short opener. Then we come to the meat course. The Fugue is anything but simple, and bears a good deal of study to work out where the themes are derived from. (Are they new material or related? etc!). Walcha is a master of the fugue for he is just flexible enough for the flow to be totaly natural, though never indulgent to the point where any nuance comes to the surface (in his playing that is) and you notice the music not the player. By now we realise that he has the measure of this music, and that Fugues that cab be tough and inflexible are breathing a life all their own, rather than being turned into a vehical for the performer.

D Minor has a rolling over idea in the right hand and the true thematic ideas which are not so even as the top line given in the middle of the keyboard. The very end of it contains a very odd progression, which sounds not quite tonal (and very modern to my ear at least) even this long after the composition. Walcha fully brings this out with some gentle slowing in the final bars. The Fugue, though quite fast has a tragic depth to it, but seems to me rather a clear structure. No tricks here!

E Flat Major starts in a grand mode and actually sounds a little Handelian, but soon enough returns to Bach and get ever more notes to play in each bar. It must be rather hard, and fortunately I played the bass, so I can listen and smile. Then the Fugue all is clearness and light. A ggod fuge to learn from a record so clear is its structure and combinations. New Variants pop up and feed through, but nothing but joy on a surface level. A gem!

Now a favourite of mine: The E flat Minor. To hear this on a harpsichord should be enough to convince anyone capable of sympathy with the tragically noble (rather than simply wanting the tragic element to dominate the noble) that the music is transformed on the piano. The great chords are heavy and dense, which means loud on the harpsichord. Here we get a whiff of defiance, where the tendency of a cultivated musician on the piano is soften the impact, and with it the noble defiance in the face pain. The Fugue folloes naturally as a sort or contemplation (not painfully slow) with a measured but steady tread. Its start is as cool as the crisp autumn brease, and moves to an ever more powerful determination that noble and humane elements will eventually gain a hold in this case. Truly this is a remarkable realisation of music that transcends its means and its place.

E Major from Bach is not the key of love duets, we find from from Handel, but here we find joy and lightness, even a delicate stand. Bach employs the higher regeons on the harpsichord, which very different from the piano, of course. The FuGue moves off with equal lightness, also at the top of the intrument, but it is a piece which requires a very clear view on articulation. it make no sense in a steady legato, and yet would soon become rather arch if it were all played stacato. There is a required lift which Walcha acheievs most naturally.

E Minor is a key which often finds Bach rather unlike his ususal self, if any such thing really excisted in a musical sense! But certainly for the first time we get a Prelude in two distinct sections. Walcha, for one of only three times in the whole reading uses the lute stop in the bass of the first half, to quite beautiful affect. The Fugue is mad, and an absolute must for anyone who thinks Bach lacks excitement, though I doubt if I'd quite call it humourous!

F Major is altogether less strained. The Prelude is flowing and very short and run almost without a break straight into the Fugue. I love this one, but perhaps it is less immediately attractive to the beginer than the E Minor. Personally I find it the perfect complement.

F Minor finds something rather happy to say, and indeed it is true that minor did not always means sad, as it were, to the old composers, but rather something that can morph from happy to sad very fast, and back again! The Fugue really has a very odd theme, which on its own sounds very angular. It grows into something of extreme beauty and resonance. Though Bach never fails to address sadness, like Haydn, he is always life-enhancing in his treatment of it. Never trite, but certainly not lacking emotional courage. This Fugue finds Walcha as firm and clear-sighted as anywhere, but no doubt he shared Bach's view of a greater good. A good stopping point for now. [Perhaps we could doubt that it will always triumph in this world today, but this kind of music and this kind of performance is enough to boost the morale, at least till the next news buletin].

I have not mentioned the recording or the instrument. There is no need to say other than that the instrument is clear, well regulated, and has a very fine tone, and the recording first rate.

Fredrik

Reposted under my non-alias. George

Posted Wed 03 August 2005 20:34 Hide Post
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

Reposted under my non-alias. George

Posted Thu 04 August 2005 22:01
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

Reposted under my non-alias. George

Dear Mike,

Actually I looked at those old posts, and they are not too bad. As usual I more or less avoid giving away my feelings [other than enthusiasm] about the music, but there is a lot there I still think is worth looking at, so not one or two Preludes and Fugues, but actually thirty-six to think about!

ATB from George

George, I find I have to think about the WTC one prelude and fugue at a time. Trying to swallow 18 preludes and fugues all at once could choke you.

Exploring them one at a time also opens the opportunity to say more about the music itself, and invites conversation.

Dear Mike,

I wondered what you might make of those thumb-nail analyses!

The trouble is that once I have analysed a piece of music, [and many of those paragraph are actually as much analysis of the music as a description of Walcha's playing which was my real intention] I tend to want to simply listen and enjoy.

Maybe the act of analysis [which tends to happen for every piece of music I get to know at a fairly early stage] is part of me breaking through from respect to affection, but once affection does creep in I loose interest in further analysis!

I suspect that you are trying very hard to understand music from a learned point of view which is either music you love, or just as possibly music you admire and want to love.

This is a very difficult one, because we all want to share our enthusiasms, and there is a problem if one does not have a person or several to reflect back one's interest.

In the old days I was lucky in that I used to see one proffesional musician in a plasant social setting weekly, and have the regular acquaintance of several others, less frequently.

No such luck now, but times change, and I am no longer in my own natural town, which is Hereford. So living in Worcester, I have lost the regular contact with these people, sadly.

So I do feel for your plight in the sense that it is very difficult to get others to share you enthusiasm for musical analysis if they have no enthusiasm for it themselves.

May I suggest that you do as I did and post your own thoughts on a Prelude and Fugue of your own choice, and see if that gets the response you are hoping for. I suspect the very act of analysis will prove satisfying enough for the probable lack of response to seem to be insignificant.

In 2005 my long posts really got very little response to their specific content though there was quite a bit of discussion of the Well Temperered Clavier as a rsult, which did please me.

But having been through the process once, it would be very hard work to try it a again ...

ATB from George

You exactly described my situation, George. I am just becoming aquainted with the WTC, and currently have my attentions focused on the D Minor in Book 1.

When I have that sorted out in my mind, I will try a post.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed reading your thumbnails and look forward to your continued observations :-)

Dear Mike, To be ready for your thoughts on it, then I will re-study it again, so that I may join in a discussion, if that be your pleasure.

I am sure Geoff is watching this, and I hope a few others, so who knows, perhaps we can get something going!

ATb from George

quote:

I am sure Geoff is watching this

Oh I am lurking ....and reading. A lot to take in just as the WTC itself is.

How long did Bach take to write Book 1... I mean was it a case of a 'fugue a day'.

It is clear that you music scholars are devoting a lot of grey matter to each individual piece. I am not being anything other than admiring of this effort. The point is how deeply did old J.S. think about each prelude / fugue pair when composing them. Do you wonder some times if you are in danger of over analysis?

I am not denigrating. I 'get' the genius behind the apparent simplicity with which Bach lays out complex musical interplay and I enjoy that aspect of what I am listening to in the moment so to speak, but other than treating each piece as a little musical delight, deeper analysis holds no attraction for me.

Nevertheless I am happy to read what you George, or Mike or Doug or anybody else cares to explain of their thoughts.

regards
Geoff

Dear Geoff,

I am sure that you are right and the analysis anyone might see in these pieces even by Bach is no different to analysing Mary Shelley's Frankenstein!

The reality is that she did not work out, in detail, the effect of her writing at all, but wrote instinctively.

I am sure that Bach composed instinctively as well, which is where it gets difficult for me beyond a certain point. Analysing a work of genius can be interesting, but in my experiene has never explained why it might be regarded as a work of genius, rather than just terribly clever.

But if someone comes up with some thoughts on this D minor P and F, then I shall be gald to read it!

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Analysing a work of genius can be interesting, but in my experiene has never explained why it might be regarded as a work of genius, rather than just terribly clever.

It's where a certain level of uniqueness, which usually derives from a high command of complexity, gives rise to something whose 'meaning' is of considerable depth, scope, and influence. Something very clever can fail on all those counts because it isn't all that expressive. It's just a solution to a problem or an act of indulgence.

I suppose...!

No one's talking about a full blown harmonic analysis here (I hope). But I am devoting some attention to thematic development and voicing in the Book 1 D Minor, and hope to post some observations by the weekend.

Grand, Mike!

Looking forward to it!

Dear Alex, That was wicked! But it made me smile!

Now for all you others, all I can say is get out there and listen to some Bach - please.

Start with the easier parts like the Brandenburg Concertos, and rememebr that the project to know and love the whole of his music is the work of at least half a lifetime, but is by no means going to disappoint! In fact you will never know all the secrets of his genius ...

ATb from George

My wife and I are exploring the Book 1 D Minor together.

Tonight we will listen to the Book 1 D Minor, possibly twice. No other music tonight.

My wife has already identified some inversions. In an inversion, all the intervals are turned upside down; that means the inversion gets the remainder of the octave, after the original interval is subtracted from the octave.

These are fairly easy to identify, as the original's rhythm is preserved intact.

There is another creature known as a retrograde - the theme is played backwards. It's findable in sheet music, but requires a finer ear to hear. The rhythm usually isn't much help with hearing retrogrades, at least for me. I'm sure a good drummer would do better. And of course, the composer is free to do both techniques at the same time anytime he likes.

I did some research on D Minor, Bk.1 in the Geiringer book on J. S. Bach, and have these listening suggestions from the book :

- Prelude is in three voices, and is modeled after the Two Part Inventions. Some of these will get played this weekend (wife, not me),

- Fugue is in four voices, and is based on a highly chromatic theme, and 2 diatonic counter themes.

If I can hear all of that in a week's time, I'll be very pleased.

I wanted to note some quick first impressions after the first attempt to listen for these particular things.

More and different sound came from my speakers than I recall. It was more like a dialog.

The Prelude is basically in two voices with augmentation by a third voice.

The three themes in the fugue make themselves known, but can be elusive.

more later ...

Just an interesting aspect of possible tunings for the WTC. The thing they all have in common, is that they leave the thirds a bit bright :-)

quote:

No one's talking about a full blown harmonic analysis here (I hope).

Oops! Was I the only one who thought we were going to do this??....(Oh well - as every one breaths a huge sigh of relief). Probably only one or two people in these here parts who might be interested in this anyway....

quote:

- Prelude is in three voices, and is modeled after the Two Part Inventions. Some of these will get played this weekend (wife, not me),

- Fugue is in four voices, and is based on a highly chromatic theme, and 2 diatonic counter themes.

Mike, if we are talking about the Prelude and Fugue in d-, Book I, then the Fugue is really only in 3 parts (voices). I've never really considered that a Prelude was referred to as having several voices (and certainly not in the fugal sense). These Preludes are simply written in a "free" style but certainly within the confines of Baroque conventions. The Preludes demonstrate Bach's ability to be creative and virtuosic; the Fugues of course, reflect a more mathematic, thinking platform where he could demonstrate how ingenious his puzzles could be.

Geoff, I do know that The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I was written out in manuscript form as a set in 1722. They were continually edited for about 18 years (1740). By 1732, it is known that the first set of revisions existed. Somewhere around 1736 came the third set of changes and 1740 was about the final time in which he made changes. It is clear that Book 1 was very special to Bach indeed. Book II was finally completed in 1744.

What is known is that many of the Preludes existed on their own prior to 1722. Some of which might be found in the Clavier-Buechlein which Bach assembled for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann. So in many cases, Bach would have written a Fugue to specifically be paired with a Prelude. In other cases, later on, he may have wrote the pair together for the purpose of this project.

What is clear from the title page of the manuscript is that Bach intended these works for teaching purposes AND for the enjoyment or challenge to the accomplished performer. Another strong intention was to introduce to these keyboard players a little foretaste of composition. They weren't merely finger exercises but a challenge to figure out. The Fugues, being "formulamatic," of course would teach one many interesting tricks that would in turn inform a would be composer too. As with the Inventions and Sinfonias they were to be played in a Cantabile style. In other words, make the voices (melody) sing. (These are Bach's instructions!). Lastly, (and certainly not even a tad controversial in some circles : ) these works were written for the Clavier which is a generic German term that refers to a keyboard. This might mean a Clavichord, a harpsichord, an organ or a piano. In my humble opinion, the keyboard most capable of a Cantabile sound is in fact our modern grand.

quote:

...but surely Fischer had it right when he said that The Well Tempered Klavier, "is the Old Testamant, and Beethoven's Piano Sonatas the New!"

George, I may be wrong but if memory serves me well, I believe this quote should rightly be attributed to Hans von Buelow. He said that, "Bach is the Old Testament and Beethoven the New Testament of music". This is quite an amazing statement and I think one can take this quite literally and extend to it what the Old Testament was about and what the New Testament was about. One of the most insightful quotes that have ever been made, in my opinion, anyway.

As for this d- Prelude and Fugue:
So much can be said but here is just a general peek into it and my take on it. This Prelude is a little rhythmic dance. The pace setter is the single base (left hand) note which announces the key of d minor and establishes the rhythm (DUM, dum, dum, dum etc.) The right hand is mainly arpeggiated. But the most important feature here is the first A in the right hand entry. It jumps the beat. This is so important as it establishes the real "interest" here. It then becomes clear that the first 5 bars are written for the treble (right hand) to shine or sing. If you have the score you will note all the semiquaver triplets. It amounts to a lot of notes but the important note for your ear to hear is this note that jumps the beat. Effectively, you have eight quavers in the base and you should feel four of these leading "jump" beats in the right hand. The first five bars are geared this way.

Where the harmony comes in is in hearing this treble note being crushed in to the bass note. So for example, with four beats to a bar you have this effect: rest/d, a/d, d/d, g/d, a/d, a(octave higher)/d, d/g, g/c, c/f, f/b flat, g/c, a/d, b flat/d, c/f, a/d, f/b flat, d/g, b flat/e, b flat/f, f/b flat, e/f--->this is the beginning of bar 6.

So when you listen to Hewitt you'll here a very musical treble part up to here. The bass is fairly consistently just providing a background reinforcement. But the exchange happens mid-way through the fifth bar. You here its dominance come in here and announcing that it will now be leading this dance. Another thing to remember is that this Prelude starts in the key of d-. In this key, the tonic is d, the mediant is f, the dominant is a, submediant is b flat, and the leading-note is c sharp. Why do I tell you this? Firstly, this piece is centered on d- but it is constantly bouncing around to different keys (minor to major even). Secondly, the notes I've listed in the above sentence basically bring you home every time. Notice how often a d, f, or b flat occurs, especially toward bar five where he wants to change the scene. Thirdly, note the lack of a c sharp (c sharps and b flats are found in abundance in the second half of the prelude including the second last note of the prelude). So by bar 5 you're in g- and the bass comes in and you think your headed back to d- but he surprises us and quickly bumps us to F+. This is just a little bit of what the Harmony is doing.

From bar 6 onward for a couple of bar the bass drives the melody and the treble just supports it. Now, this is very interesting. Notice how the bass now has a quaver lead into a strong beat (more than half as fast as the opening section. But listen to how Hewitt phrases this bass line. She draws our attention to the first and third beat of the bar by holding it and lightly bouncing off the remaining notes. This is just lovely and very musical. Remember, a phrase in music is like a sentence that we speak to someone. She is telling us something interesting here (we wouldn't speak to someone in a dry, monotonous, voice but similarly we provide inflection in our speaking voice to be of interest and also to highlight important thoughts / words.

From about bar 8 on then the performer has the opportunity to combine the two themes at the same time basically as you will note the bass melody continues its statements in the same way but the interesting leading harmonies of the semiquaver triplets of the right hand can be brought out as you see fit. It continues this way building until the end of bar 14. Hear a major change in character is announced by the diminished arpeggios.

I do not have time right now to continue but I will say the last bar and a half is what seals the deal. The changing of keys here really has to be played right or the performance can be ineffective. From a diminished 7th the last bar is heralded with a strong d- chord. This is what you think it should be since the piece is in d- right? But the final chord of the piece transitions to d major. Notice how Hewitt gives a hesitation (which allows us to expect something and then be pleasantly surprised. I give this example since I think Hewitt is very musical in her approach. Bach requires (judicious) musicality just as much as any other music. Playing this ending straight with metronomic precision would loose the beautiful effect, in my opinion. It is this ability to be musical and produce different sound planes is especially why I prefer the piano with the majority of the keyboard music of Bach.

With the Fugue, this is a 3 voice piece. This means you will hear the first voice in the soprano be presented. After it is complete the the exact same line is presented in the alto. Once done, eventually the exact same voice is presented in the bass line. This game continues around for pretty much the whole fugue. As Mike stated, little trick/inversions etc happen. As said earlier, in the Fugues you really see how inventive Bach was. 48 eight of these and not one of them the same.

Best Regards,
Doug

Florestan,

Thanks for the additional listening notes. I think I'll track down everything you mentioned in the sheet music before I listen again.

I talked about voicing in the Book 1 D Minor Prelude because every reference book I have, including the Harvard Dictionary of Music, does so. I hear seperate voices in this Prelude, just like in two-part inventions. Fugue is not the only musical form that has voicing.

In your comments, you did not address the two diatonic counter themes in the Fugue. Could you elaborate?

It's also the reference works that say the Fugue is in four voices, although I have yet to hear four voices.

A bit of time in the score should clear things up.

I have to say this kind of back and forth over a single Prelude and Fugue is turning out to be what I hoped it would be - illuminating.

Sorry to post two in a row.

We have a three day weekend, as "Labor Day" this Monday is a national holiday.

We are spending it with music and movies; science fiction movies of the 1950s, Hewitt's performance of the Bach Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 D Minor Prelude and Fugue, and all the Prokofiev we can dig up, so I am perusing the record stacks.

The Hewitt is for serious critical listening. For the rest of it we will talk, eat, maybe even nap :-)

Some time will be spent at the keyboard with the Bach, but never more that a ten minute blast. Of course, it might happen 5 or 6 times in a single day :-)

My mission is to identify all the themes, and be able to recognize them on sight. That is absolutely the first thing I want to know about this music. I want everything else I learn about it to grow from this seed.

I believe that this initial approach "illuminates" the music in a way nothing else can.

My teachers did it to me ...

and so far experience has proved them right.

When learning a new piece, they urged me to identify all thematic material, and know it in all its forms, and to decide on an interpretation of each of them.

Even in retrograde and inversion, the interpretation usually does not change, barring the odd inspiration.

In practice, the first thing to secure is to ensure that when a theme appears, it is always presented with the same character.

That probably varies from instrument to instrument, but it is a good philosophy if you are a trumpet player.

I have heard it done well, and it never fails to inspire.

And that is at the root of every one of my musical bias.

And it is usually the first thing I learn about a new piece.

One final short.

I have spent most of my time and energy on 19th and 20th century music.

So this expedition into Bach means I have to change my attitude. My wife is going to help with this.

One of the first things to go is the idea that melody completely determines the rhythm. I can hear that's not so in the D Minor. The harmony has a great deal of forward momentum.

And a quick look at the sheet music verifies that the Fugue is in three voices. So I found a bum reference on the web. It's tough learning something new with bum references. I'll stick to the books in our library from here on out.

Hopefully I will emerge from this three day weekend with my ears attuned to Bach.

Dear Mile,

I would hardly like to suggest that I had already pointed out that the melody and rhythm in Bach are so much more often than not led by the harmony aspect, but the Master actually gave no precedence to any aspect taking a perfect equil;ibrium of the three aspects, where all [more or less except Joseph Haydn] after Bach would let the melody dominate the harmony and rhythm.

For this equilibrium, I love Bach and Haydn above all other music even if I accept that Schubert or Bethoven wrote music of equal value.

Please don't think I am especially pleased with my view, but it is one that has matured over 40 years, and so I do not expect to test it for another 40!

ATB from George

Hi All - really enjoying this thread, even though I'm not musically educated enough to make a meaningful contribution to it. But I just thought I'd pitch in with a heads-up that this:



Is available on Amazon for £2.99 plus p&p - click on "used and new" and look for Harmonia Mundi.

Listening to it now. The opening prelude in C major seemed rather dark and heavy, but it's getting better (or I'm getting used to the approach).

Regards
Nigel