Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier

[Mandryka]

Bernard Sherman writes here, that the clavichord for book I was built by Arnold Dolmetsch. There are also some comments upon Troeger's recordings:

http://www.bsherman.net/Bachonclavichord.htm

Cheers, it is indeed a revival clavichord. I rather like it at the right volume, and the performance is more inflected than you'd expect from (eg) his Scarlatti.

[prémont]

Cheers, it is indeed a revival clavichord. I rather like it at the right volume, and the performance is more inflected than you'd expect from (eg) his Scarlatti.

Yes, surprisingly expressive for Kirkpatrick, I would say.

[Parsifal]

I have Colin Tilney's recording of WTC I on Clavichord (hyperion) but never found time to listen to it. Worth it?

[Mandryka]

I have Colin Tilney's recording of WTC I on Clavichord (hyperion) but never found time to listen to it. Worth it?

I don't know, I haven't heard it. But I can say that his Bk 2, which is a harpsichord performance, really does bear repeated listening.

[KevinP]

Maybe you'll find this an interesting read... it includes some fine suggestions:

http://www.bsherman.net/WTC.htm

Very helpful overview. Thanks!

[kishnevi]

Cheers, it is indeed a revival clavichord. I rather like it at the right volume, and the performance is more inflected than you'd expect from (eg) his Scarlatti.

I just realized Kirkpatrick's recording of the 2- and 3-Part Inventions/Sinfonias is included in the Arkiv Analogue Recordings box. It made absolutely no impression on me when I listened to it a couple of weeks ago, but I think my mood at that moment was a contributing factor.  The recording data say the Inventions were recorded  in August 1960 on a Dolmetsch clavichord made in 1932.

[milk]

I decided to compare the D Major set in B1 tonight. Leonhardt, Wilson, Gilbert, Watchorn and Levin. These are all enjoyable performances. I finished with Feinberg and Crossland. I actually found Feinberg to be a bit trying and Crossland better in the prelude. However, I came away thinking that the piano is at a disadvantage when it comes to some of this music. I'm not exactly sure why. The piano is muddy. And subtle changes/hesitations with the Harpsichord really mean a lot. It depends on the piece though. I just noticed Jaroslav Tuma B1 buried in my collection. Should I be paying attention to this recording? Also Christiane Jaccottet...Scott Ross never did a WTC?

[Mandryka]

I decided to compare the D Major set in B1 tonight. Leonhardt, Wilson, Gilbert, Watchorn and Levin. These are all enjoyable performances. I finished with Feinberg and Crossland. I actually found Feinberg to be a bit trying and Crossland better in the prelude. However, I came away thinking that the piano is at a disadvantage when it comes to some of this music. I'm not exactly sure why. The piano is muddy. And subtle changes/hesitations with the Harpsichord really mean a lot. It depends on the piece though. I just noticed Jaroslav Tuma B1 buried in my collection. Should I be paying attention to this recording? Also Christiane Jaccottet...Scott Ross never did a WTC?

I have Tüma's Bk 2 and although on paper it ticks all the right boxes I find it totally uncharismatic. This could be just a reflection of my mood each time I've heard it, though I have tried several times. Ross did a WTC, but I don't think it's one of his more successful recordings, it's too sewing machine at least in Bk 2. Jaccottet is quite interest to hear, the problem is to know whether it isn't just "outclassed" by others. It's not really revealing like Leonhardt, Wilson, Asperen, Weiss,  Belder, Egarr,  Tilney or even  Rousset or Dantone  and Gilbert and Moroney and Koopman.

I hope someone will show me I'm wrong about Jaccottet.

Opinions on Landowska appreciated. She reminds me of Schweitzer when she's at her best. Reverential, like music for a solemn procession. She's not always at her best IMO in those post war recordings.

Edwin Fischer also is worth thinking about maybe - you know, a sort of landmark recording though in truth I've never seen what the fuss is about in his WTC.

[Mandryka]

I just realized Kirkpatrick's recording of the 2- and 3-Part Inventions/Sinfonias is included in the Arkiv Analogue Recordings box. It made absolutely no impression on me when I listened to it a couple of weeks ago, but I think my mood at that moment was a contributing factor.  The recording data say the Inventions were recorded  in August 1960 on a Dolmetsch clavichord made in 1932.

I think he's an acquired taste. I appreciate the emphasis on very long musical lines and most of all a certain strange feeling of fantasy which he sometimes captures, like a vivid and lively dream. I like Kirkpatrick's late recordings much more that the earlier ones. Try his second recording of the Scarlatti sonatas for another example (don't confuse it with the first recording.)

By the way, Tuma recorded the inventions on a clavichord , an authentic one, I think very well.

[Mandryka]

Blandine Verlet's WTC 2 is marked by three things.

1. Humanity. It's as if she has the gift of taking the music and using it as a vehicle to create a tender, passionate  sketch in sound. No one could ever say that Verlet's WTC 2 is abstract music - to my ears, she gives us a Bach who is expressive like Froberger or Chopin.

2.  Inner life. The voices are given their own phrasing and rhythms for so that on listening I am aware of the intricacy of Bach's textures, and that makes the performances full of life. It made me think that Bach's art is about weaving sonic threads, and I wonder if anyone who works in plastic arts has  also focussed on exploring textures.

3. Classicism. As in her Louis Couperin, the voices all sing from the same hymn sheet at all times, they listen to each other and respond like in a Mozart string quartet, there is never a sense of isolation, of contradiction.

Are these features strengths, weaknesses or merely features?  Does her vision send us hurling into into Bach's world picture? Does it offer us a glimpse into some truth about our own? I suspect that in both cases no: that Bach was intending something more abstract and that our own world has seen through the illusion of concord and harmony.

Does anyone know who made her harpsichord?

[prémont]

Blandine Verlet's WTC 2 ..

Does anyone know who made her harpsichord?

Johannes Ruckers 1624, now in Musee D'Unterlinden in Colmar, France.,

[Jo498]

Maybe the most famous harpsichord ever. Is there a list which recordings were made on it?

[Mandryka]

Johannes Ruckers 1624, now in Musee D'Unterlinden in Colmar, France.,

Just what I thought, the same as for her Louis Couperin.

[milk]

Blandine Verlet's WTC 2 is marked by three things.

1. Humanity. It's as if she has the gift of taking the music and using it as a vehicle to create a tender, passionate  sketch in sound. No one could ever say that Verlet's WTC 2 is abstract music - to my ears, she gives us a Bach who is expressive like Froberger or Chopin.

2.  Inner life. The voices are given their own phrasing and rhythms for so that on listening I am aware of the intricacy of Bach's textures, and that makes the performances full of life. It made me think that Bach's art is about weaving sonic threads, and I wonder if anyone who works in plastic arts has  also focussed on exploring textures.

3. Classicism. As in her Louis Couperin, the voices all sing from the same hymn sheet at all times, they listen to each other and respond like in a Mozart string quartet, there is never a sense of isolation, of contradiction.

Are these features strengths, weaknesses or merely features?  Does her vision send us hurling into into Bach's world picture? Does it offer us a glimpse into some truth about our own? I suspect that in both cases no: that Bach was intending something more abstract and that our own world has seen through the illusion of concord and harmony.

Does anyone know who made her harpsichord?

I always like when people talk of textures. In a way, I think this is missing sometimes on the piano, but I don't know if I'm correct. The piano makes round sounds.

[prémont]

I have Colin Tilney's recording of WTC I on Clavichord (hyperion) but never found time to listen to it. Worth it?

It is relatively slow and introvert. Only subtle agogic rubato. His "normal" articulation is a close non legato, which - on a clavichord with its slowly acting damper device - most often sounds as proper legato. Maybe these things will appeal to you. If you are not used to the sound of a clavichord, you may need some adaption. Keep the dynamics moderate.

[prémont]

I just noticed Jaroslav Tuma B1 buried in my collection. Should I be paying attention to this recording?

It is long time since I listened to Tuma. Recall him as being expressive and poetic. Will have to revisit the set.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

If you ahve not yet, have a look (listen) to Gavrilov here. I really like his approach a great deal--historically defensible or not. (It is not the only approach I like, but one of the approaches I like.) I think he follows in the tradition of Feinberg and (S) Richter in his legato playing, leisurely tempos, and highly personal interpretations. I am currently playing No. 7 myself (some very strange fingerings--or at least the ones I've devised), and I find myself frequently coming back to his rendering here for inspiration. His commentary is quite interesting as well.

Johanna, who follows him--her playing leaves me cold (although she IS cute!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpnFE6K6lws

[Mandryka]

Have you heard his [Kenneth Weiss's] recordings of the Goldbergs and Partitas?

I have, and to his other recordings. I'm coming to the conclusion that Weiss is at his best live. Fortunately we have three live recordings, the WTC, the Goldbergs and one of English music called Cleare and Cloudy.

I'll try to write something about what's going on in the partitas, he has ideas.

I think generally from the point of view of voicing, Bach's polyphony,  he is pretty imaginative.

[Mandryka]

Jaroslav Tuma's WTC 2. He uses all sorts of rubato and ornamentation and dynamics. But somehow, the performances don't effect me.  I find the performances cold. And yet full of expressive touches.

Sometimes I forget a performance is expressive if and only if it causes an emotional response in the listener - it's not about the way it's played, it's about the way it's perceived.

Note the move to the passive voice in that last sentence - the pull to making generalised, universal statements about the effects of a performance on a listener is an easy trap to fall into. I'm not sure how to justify it.

[prémont]

Sometimes I forget a performance is expressive if and only if it causes an emotional response in the listener - it's not about the way it's played, it's about the way it's perceived.

Note the move to the passive voice in that last sentence - the pull to making generalised, universal statements about the effects of a performance on a listener is an easy trap to fall into. I'm not sure how to justify it.

If I understand you correctly, you say, that a performance is expressive to you, if you respond to it, and inexpressive, if you do not respond to it. And that there is no objective way to describe expressivity.