But, on a modern piano, the Bach preludes are just too froo-froo. Pretty, dainty, nicely turned, of course. Part of what I love about the Chopin and Liszt catalogues is, they are written to take advantage of the character and capacity of the piano, and both composers pushed that capacity.
True, except Liszt pushed a lot harder, harder then most, before or since. Indeed, he doesn't seem to have left much of a legacy in that regard. Pianists still use the piano as a mix between a percussive and harmonic instrument, nobody seems capable of making the instrument
speak the way Liszt did (the exception being, perhaps, Debussy). Of course, Chopin was still the greater genius for exploring the deepest regions of his
soul rather then his finger tips.
The Bach pieces are nice, but they're also mix-&-match. Almost doesn't matter which instrument they're played on. The music sounds dandy on any instrument(s), but the music doesn't belong to any particular timbre.
Good grief, it appears you still have much learning to do. The music is simply too dense to be considered "dandy". Layers upon layers of musical ideas interlacing within minuscule spaces of time, inch after inch. Its almost inhuman. Plus each prelude employs so many forms and styles of the time, from french overtures to toccatas or even italian concertos, like the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bd_70ZI9hs The level of greatness of this music is almost too much to handle. One could listen to it for decades and still find something new, something fresh.
