Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier

Started by Bogey, May 06, 2007, 01:26:30 PM

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premont

Quote from: aukhawk on September 26, 2020, 07:04:14 AM
Bach dreams up a motif, and then he fugues it.  While he's doing the latter his mind is probably elsewhere, reminiscing about that girl in the organ-loft, perhaps.

Yes, of course. Stupid of me that I wasn't aware of this.
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vers la flamme

The fact that Gould is still stirring up such heated controversy several decades after his death proves once and for all that he accomplished what he set out to do. Anyway, I'm of the opinion that the things Gould said or wrote have absolutely nothing to do with the things he played.

André Le Nôtre

In reading the liner notes to his excellent Sweelinck box on Brilliant Classics, I noticed this--Daniele Boccaccio's WTC on organ:



Will head over to spotify to hear a bit of this before buying...

milk

Quote from: André Le Nôtre on September 26, 2020, 07:27:02 PM
In reading the liner notes to his excellent Sweelinck box on Brilliant Classics, I noticed this--Daniele Boccaccio's WTC on organ:



Will head over to spotify to hear a bit of this before buying...
I gave this a try tonight. There is something lacking but maybe it's just my mood. In some ways, the organ is an inflexible instrument?

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: (: premont :) on September 25, 2020, 02:02:44 PM
Maybe this needs some elaboration. In my opinion many others reveals the layers of meaning (whatever that is) much better, for instance the newest recording of WTC book I by Trevor Pinnock.

Excellent album.

milk

I posted somewhere about this but maybe not here. I think this deserves another look. WTC is my favorite music and I've listened to so many recordings over the last few years. I think I wrote this off before but I find it a nice change of pace now. It's a lute-harpsichord and obviously it's not the adventure that Rubsam's recordings are but it's something else. The instrument has a nice quality and Paul, while subtler and less intrepid than Rubsam, has some nice touches.


Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: André Le Nôtre on September 26, 2020, 07:27:02 PM
In reading the liner notes to his excellent Sweelinck box on Brilliant Classics, I noticed this--Daniele Boccaccio's WTC on organ:



Will head over to spotify to hear a bit of this before buying...

I only listened to the Book 2, but sounds great!

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: milk on October 01, 2020, 03:17:02 PM
I posted somewhere about this but maybe not here. I think this deserves another look. WTC is my favorite music and I've listened to so many recordings over the last few years. I think I wrote this off before but I find it a nice change of pace now. It's a lute-harpsichord and obviously it's not the adventure that Rubsam's recordings are but it's something else. The instrument has a nice quality and Paul, while subtler and less intrepid than Rubsam, has some nice touches.


Sounds very interesting. I will soon re-join Amazon unlimited and check this out!

milk

#1768
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 01, 2020, 08:24:39 PM
Sounds very interesting. I will soon re-join Amazon unlimited and check this out!
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 01, 2020, 08:22:50 PM
I only listened to the Book 2, but sounds great!
I'm going to listen again. I'm not sure how to assess this on organ. I mean beyond if ai find it pleasing. Robert Levin plays some of these pieces on organ in his set BTW, and I quite like it.
Re: John Paul. It's definitely somewhat conservative in approach but I like it. I think he brings out something different with the instrument.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: milk on October 01, 2020, 08:26:06 PM
I'm going to listen again. I'm not sure how to assess this on organ. I mean beyond if ai find it pleasing. Robert Levin plays some of these pieces on organ in his set BTW, and I quite like it.

Robert Costin did that a few years ago, but it was mediocre. This album, I do not totally admire the organ sound, but it is very good and enjoyable overall. As for the execution, I would like analyses from senior members.

milk

I've been listening to the G Minor fugue from book II today. It's a great work of art and I'm surprised that I like very much what some pianists have done with this, particularly George Lepauw and Demus (from a live recording some nice person here gave me). Lepauw makes it sound like Schumann but it really works for me. Demus also gives this kind of interesting punctuation which I guess one can only get on the piano. I wasn't as impressed with some of the harpsichordists I tried like Suzuki and Frisch. I think Egarr does something interesting with it by taking it slower and, somehow, softer. Leonhardt is very hard and grand, by contrast. Egarr ends up making something lyrical.

Mandryka

#1771
Quote from: milk on October 02, 2020, 11:28:18 PM
I've been listening to the G Minor fugue from book II today. It's a great work of art and I'm surprised that I like very much what some pianists have done with this, particularly George Lepauw and Demus (from a live recording some nice person here gave me). Lepauw makes it sound like Schumann but it really works for me. Demus also gives this kind of interesting punctuation which I guess one can only get on the piano. I wasn't as impressed with some of the harpsichordists I tried like Suzuki and Frisch. I think Egarr does something interesting with it by taking it slower and, somehow, softer. Leonhardt is very hard and grand, by contrast. Egarr ends up making something lyrical.

Rübsam of course. Wim Van Beek recorded the prelude on the smaller  Groningen organ and it sounds perfect. For some reason no fugue though.      Yes he did do the fugue - my bad.
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milk

Quote from: Mandryka on October 03, 2020, 12:00:13 AM
Rübsam of course. Wim Van Beek recorded the prelude on the smaller  Groningen organ and it sounds perfect. For some reason no fugue though.      Yes he did do the fugue - my bad.
it's hard to find him. I'm streaming on amazon these days.

milk

#1773
Quote from: Mandryka on October 03, 2020, 12:00:13 AM
Rübsam of course. Wim Van Beek recorded the prelude on the smaller  Groningen organ and it sounds perfect. For some reason no fugue though.      Yes he did do the fugue - my bad.
I do like what Rubsam has done with this, now that I listen to it. I wish there were a little more bass and character in his instrument. It's a quibble though. He's very touching in this fugue.
I think more people should play the Lautenwerk. But maybe more people should make them too. John Paul plays a really resonant instrument and I like it. It almost created harmonics.
ETA: I can only take so much of Rubsam before I feel like I'm drunk. I do enjoy Lepauw, even though he can get a bit carried away at times.

milk

Quote from: Mandryka on June 02, 2018, 12:30:12 AM


This WTC 2 was released as long ago as 1986 and reissued in 2013, but I hadn't noticed. It's often muscular and full of vitality.  She's a contrapuntalist, that's to say the complexity of the interrelationships among the voices matters very much in her interpretation, and she doesn't try to seduce is by highlighting one of the melodies in the mix. She's well aware of the variety of affects, and there are some moments of greater tenderness - modulo the overall tough approach. A tough approach, but not an intellectual one. Anne Gallot is never maudlin or mawkish. She's no doubt an interesting musician and I think this is worth catching.
This is a good recommendation. Exuberant!

milk

#1775
here's something. This recording is a bit strange and I don't quite know what to make of it. Very fast tempos and  - just - out-of-the-ordinary choices. It might just be flying too fast, over my head.
These days I'm finding myself less happy with what I have on piano. Lepauw is an exception. And Demus and Feinberg. A lot of stuff I used to like seems just not adventurous enough.
And...speaking of Bach on the organ:


premont

Quote from: milk on October 05, 2020, 02:51:22 AM
here's something. This recording is a bit strange and I don't quite know what to make of it. Very fast tempos and  - just - out-of-the-ordinary choices. It might just be flying too fast, over my head.

I purchased this but culled it again. I think he isn't butt surfing over the WTC. Certainly a missed opportunity for something better.
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milk

Quote from: (: premont :) on October 05, 2020, 03:13:56 AM
I purchased this but culled it again. I think he isn't butt surfing over the WTC. Certainly a missed opportunity for something better.
Head-scratcher for sure although if one goes through it one can pick out some great individual performances. Can someone around here defend it as a whole? I'm interested in the whys and whats.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: milk on October 05, 2020, 02:51:22 AM
here's something. This recording is a bit strange and I don't quite know what to make of it. Very fast tempos and  - just - out-of-the-ordinary choices. It might just be flying too fast, over my head.
These days I'm finding myself less happy with what I have on piano. Lepauw is an exception. And Demus and Feinberg. A lot of stuff I used to like seems just not adventurous enough.
And...speaking of Bach on the organ:


JB sounds like a Jazz player. Costin sounds mediocre.

milk

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on October 05, 2020, 06:05:01 PM
JB sounds like a Jazz player. Costin sounds mediocre.
I think organ works better when it's interspersed like in Robert Levin.