Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier

[San Antone]

disjointed approach
Q

I wonder if other people agree with que that the approach is disjointed (overarticulated?)

No, I would not agree.  I consider these recordings by Wolfgang Rubsam to be the most enjoyable I have ever heard - but who knows how I will feel after months of listening.  The other recent recording of WTC that I have enjoyed is by Kenneth Weiss, I should go back and re-listen to it now that I have Rubsam in my ears.  But I remember really liking it when I first played it.

I've also sampled the recordings by Pieter-Jan Belder and Ottavio Dantone (new to me, but obviously been around for some time) and will probably try to hear their entire performances. 

I only have access to Part II of Christophe Rousset's recent release, but although others have praised the sound of his instrument, it is a bit bright for my taste.  Consequently I probably won't purchase Part I.  Bob van Asperen's recordings, although highly praised here, do nothing for me and his instrument is not pleasing to my ears at all.

What I have learned is that I vastly prefer an intimate take on these works, which I think (from my reading) is how Bach also envisioned them.  After all there is no more intimate keyboard instrument than the clavichord, which was the preferred choice of Sebastian Bach.

[The One]

as I can conclude by the fact that Rubsam has a long history of producing high quality mainstream recordings of Bach over a long career.

Actually, I never came by a "high quality" or "mainstream" Bach by Rubsam. I have many organ sets and one of the worst is by Rubsam. I've heard that he can play Reger or Vierne up to a level.

[The One]

The other recent recording of WTC that I have enjoyed is by Kenneth,

Please give the other Kenneth (The Canadian) a try sometime.

[Baron Scarpia]

Actually, I never came by a "high quality" or "mainstream" Bach by Rubsam. I have many organ sets and one of the worst is by Rubsam. I've heard that he can play Reger or Vierne up to a level.

You say that as if it were a fact, and not just your opinion.

[prémont]

I myself am only a slightly informed non-musician, and despite the fact that I think that Wolfgang Rübsam is a very interesting loot on the tree of Bach/baroque interpreters, in general 'his' Bach is not 'mine'. My favourite recordings of him are the Philips Bach/organ ones, when tempi were faster and his approach was more 'no nonsense'.
I do realize of course, that this is not a very rigorous opinion.

Of course his later recordings cannnot stand alone, they are only one - very distinctive -  intrepretatory approach, but none-the-less they are certainly revelatory in their own way. With growing age I find enjoyment in many different interpretations, which enlighten the music each in their own way, and the question of preferences gets more and more unimportant, very similar to what you write here:

My opinions about performances and recordings are getting less and less rigorous, btw. Could be age.

[Baron Scarpia]

Of course his later recordings cannnot stand alone, they are only one - very distinctive -  intrepretatory approach, but none-the-less they are certainly revelatory in their own way. With growing age I find enjoyment in many different interpretations, which enlighten the music each in their own way, and the question of preferences gets more and more unimportant, very similar to what you write here:

+1

[The One]

You say that as if it were a fact, and not just your opinion.

Take it as you see fit. Not a place (or my place for that matter) to re-establish what 'fact', 'belief' and 'opinion' and/or their differences are...especially after your usage of "fact".

[prémont]

Actually, I never came by a "high quality" or "mainstream" Bach by Rubsam. I have many organ sets and one of the worst is by Rubsam. I've heard that he can play Reger or Vierne up to a level.

His Bach recordings have never been mainstream. His first set for Philips virtually introduced the rhetorical approach to Bach's organ music, and his Naxos set introduces, whatever you mean about it, a highly individual thoughtful approach. Something similar can be said about his Bach on piano series also for Naxos. And now these Bach on lute-harpsichord series are so far removed from mainstream, as I can imagine One can only hope, that he decides to record more Bach on the lute-harpsichord.

[prémont]

Please give the other Kenneth (The Canadian) a try sometime.

I enjoy both (Kenneth Gilbert and Kenneth Weiss) and would not dare to choose between them.

[Mandryka]

What I have learned is that I vastly prefer an intimate take on these works,

I  like an intimate approach too, and I like something else: the sense of the player exploring ideas; a mind engaged with the music; an intellectual aspect. This is one of the reasons Egarr's recording is special to me. Leonhardt even more so really, Leonhardt more than anyone.

.  After all there is no more intimate keyboard instrument than the clavichord

Jaroslav Tuma sometimes plays the music horizontally and quite lyrically -- in the C sharp minor P and F of Bk 2 for example. The clavichord is very good for separating the voices and hence encourages making them independent, because the timbres in the different registers are so different. Tuma's not consistently like this, but I'm starting to think that I may have underestimated his achievement.

[Mandryka]

loot on the tree

WTF is that?

[prémont]

WTF is that?

'

He probably means something like bud.

[Marc]

WTF is that?

Pfui dich!
So spricht man nicht in der Weihnachtszeit!

Premont guessed right, I thought 'loot' was an acceptable English word for butt bud.

Still learning...

[Mandryka]

Pfui dich!
So spricht man nicht in der Weihnachtszeit!

Premont guessed right, I thought 'loot' was an acceptable English word for butt bud.

Still learning...

I thought it was something to do with this

https://www.youtube.com/v/tI5gu2AMDPc

[André]

Question: how do aficionados listen to WTC ? After all, Bach probably didn't compose it for continued playing/listening.

So, do you go for all 24/48 at one sitting, one p&f only, or a few at a time, or a disc worth (12 p&f) ? When does a feeling of similarity, of blurred individuality starts to set in (if it does) ?

Personally I liked the lp format for that particular purpose. One lp side at a time was just fine with me. Beyond that my attention level starts to drop  .

[Baron Scarpia]

Question: how do aficionados listen to WTC ? After all, Bach probably didn't compose it for continued playing/listening.

So, do you go for all 24/48 at one sitting, one p&f only, or a few at a time, or a disc worth (12 p&f) ? When does a feeling of similarity, of blurred individuality starts to set in (if it does) ?

Personally I liked the lp format for that particular purpose. One lp side at a time was just fine with me. Beyond that my attention level starts to drop  .

Usually I listen to a major/minor pair. Sometimes if I am feeling enthusiastic I will listen to two pair. It's an aperitif.

[San Antone]

Question: how do aficionados listen to WTC ? After all, Bach probably didn't compose it for continued playing/listening.

So, do you go for all 24/48 at one sitting, one p&f only, or a few at a time, or a disc worth (12 p&f) ? When does a feeling of similarity, of blurred individuality starts to set in (if it does) ?

Personally I liked the lp format for that particular purpose. One lp side at a time was just fine with me. Beyond that my attention level starts to drop  .

When I am listening to a recording for the first time I put it on shuffle play and listen to a hodgepodge of the pieces; when I listen to a recording that I like I start at the beginning (of either I or II) and let it play until I've heard enough, which is often the entire book, about an hour.  This is the same way I listen to the cello suites and the solo violin S&P.

[prémont]

Question: how do aficionados listen to WTC ? After all, Bach probably didn't compose it for continued playing/listening.

In my youth I used to listen to book I or II at one sitting and sometimes even both books at one sitting, but nowadays I most often listen to one half of one book at a time.

However Bach is reported by one of his pupils to have performed at least one book for him at one sitting at least three times.

[milk]

This Rubsam seems to be the most radical interpretation of WTC. It's magic how natural, maybe even modern, it seems, too. When I try to think of recordings that really deviate from what I'm use to I have to go in another direction, like the old Samuel Feinberg (which is what? romantic?). But Rubsam is unique in this "horizontal" playing, right? Pretty neat one can be so novel and yet not affected or false.     

[Mandryka]

This Rubsam seems to be the most radical interpretation of WTC. It's magic how natural, maybe even modern, it seems, too.

What he's saying, I think, is that he's  following the score

Keith suggested that I take it home and record the complete Well Tempered Clavier on it, doing something never done before: using Bach's manuscript and literally following the vertical alignment of notes—those meant to be played at about the same time—as they actually appear from Bach's hand in relationship to one another so that, if one pitch appears to the left of another, it is played slightly before those to the right.  This set of 5 Compact Discs, recorded in High Definition audio, using the Kirnberger III well tempered tuning, represents my work on this project over the span of one year.

If that's what he is doing, I think it's hard to imagine unintended deviations in alignment would make such good music! Of course he's chosen tempos, articulation etc so that's got a lot to do with why it works so well too I'm sure,

I'm also interested in this comment that Keith Hill makes on Rubsam's website

To accomplish this, Bach, according to F. Griepenkerl, in this quote from a letter he wrote and which has been published, "Bach himself, his sons, and Forkel played the masterpieces with such a profound declamation that they sounded like polyphonic songs sung by individual great artist singers.

It makes me think of Vartolo's madrigalesque style in Frescobaldi's harpsichord music. Maybe, in answer to your question

But Rubsam is unique in this "horizontal" playing, right?

Vartolo is a good place to start investigating, in Frescobaldi Capricci for example, Vartolo's Capricci are a very good thing to hear when Rubsam's latest AoF is fresh in your mind, in my experience, they complement each other nicely somehow.