Bach: Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue BWV 903

[czgirb]

As title ... which records is recommended?
* Piano ....
* Harpsichord ...
Please help
Thank you.

[Bulldog]

Piano - James Friskin/Vanguard Classics and Rubsam/Naxos
Harpsichord - Kipnis/Arabesque and Rousset/Decca

[Que]

Harpsichord: Christophe Rousset (Decca) and Robert Hill (Hanssler).

Q

[prémont]

The Chromatic Phantasy is one of the Bach keyboard works I find unsuited for piano rendering. The arpeggio chords need the brilliance of a harpsichord.

My favorites are

Gustav Leonhardt (Seon/Sony)
Kenneth Gilbert (Archiv)
Pierre Hantaï (Virgin)
Pieter Jan Belder (Brilliant)

[PaulSC]

I have a strong opinion on this one. Yves Rechsteiner's brilliant recording on Alpha achieves exactly the right mixture of fantasy and precision. And the pedal harpsichord he plays is a perfect instrument for the music. Highly recommended!

[asin]B00006JST6[/asin]

[FideLeo]

Honestly I haven't heard this piece enough (the Partitas would be a more worthwhile subject for a thread IMO) to form a definite set of recs.  However Egarr's performance that I just fished out of youtube strikes me as being as good as any other ones I have heard.

http://www.youtube.com/v/CxjxYxmMVe8

http://www.youtube.com/v/dCH5CzXpuB0

[asin]B0000UYNYO[/asin]

[Bulldog]

I have a strong opinion on this one. Yves Rechsteiner's brilliant recording on Alpha achieves exactly the right mixture of fantasy and precision. And the pedal harpsichord he plays is a perfect instrument for the music. Highly recommended!

[asin]B00006JST6[/asin]

I wasn't aware of this one, so thanks for the heads-up.  I listened to it on the Naxos site and found it very enjoyable.

[Bulldog]

Honestly I haven't heard this piece enough (the Partitas would be a more worthwhile subject for a thread IMO) to form a definite set of recs. 

Nonsense.  The OP wants some BWV 903 recommendations, so he starts a thread.  It's worthwhile and reasonable for him to do so.  Sometimes you say the strangest things.

[FideLeo]

Pieter-Jan Belder's recording

http://www.youtube.com/v/1RHYK7ZZOWI

[FideLeo]

Nonsense.

Not at all - I do wonder why certain Bach pieces get more recommendation requests than others. 

[Scarpia]

Not at all - I do wonder why certain Bach pieces get more recommendation requests than others. 

You have a grand unified theory where all Bach pieces get exactly the same number of recommendation requests?  Fascinating.

[Holden]

Piano - Lise de la Salle

[FideLeo]

You have a grand unified theory where all Bach pieces get exactly the same number of recommendation requests?  Fascinating.

Well, the phenomenon of what Bach gets more attention is fascinating to me, if not to you.  And 'a grand unified theory'?  That sounds funny for something that's no more than a curious feeling...

[PaulSC]

the Partitas would be a more worthwhile subject for a thread IMO

SHAZAM!

[FideLeo]

SHAZAM!

I like this response better than I do 'nonsense' and 'grand unified theory'   

[ccar]

The Chromatic Phantasy is one of the Bach keyboard works I find unsuited for piano rendering. The arpeggio chords need the brilliance of a harpsichord.

The Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue is a "small" masterpiece. For me it compares to many other great musical compositions. And like most of Bach's works (like any great Music, or Art) it contains in itself a multitude of meaningful musical images or ideas. This is what I tend to look for in any interpretation - an aid to help me get these deeper and more sensible impressions, evoked by a particular piece. Of course, this is always different from reading to reading, and from one listener to another. So, more than a mere technical execution, more than the colors, the articulations, the arpeggios, ... what I look for in listening is the expression of ideas, feelings and, perhaps sometimes, even some mysteries. Be it in a harpsichord or in a piano.

"And when Bach's harmonies are marvels, as in the Chromatic Fantasia, his deliberate purpose is to astonish and bewilder. They are, in fact, like the harmonies of the 'Et exapecto' of the B minor Mass: assertions that faith is mere reason unless it can put its trust in mysteries. "  Donald F. Tovey

Ones I have enjoyed:  Wanda Landowska, Helmut Walcha.  Maria Yudina, Alfred Brendel, Edwin Fischer, Alexis Weissenberg and Ivan Moravec.

I confess I am always particularly impressed by Maria Yudina and Edwin Fischer. But here are other readings I also enjoy – Arrau 1945; Feinberg 1948; Schnabel 1948; Serkin 1950; Gulda 1964; Egorov 1978; Lefébure 1978; Ross 1988.

http://www.youtube.com/v/pyvOqGzsWVU&playnext=1&list=PL4579FB3C4D2E271D http://www.youtube.com/v/68ngoSKE6Ac&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/v/kDvm1fqmecw&playnext=1&list=PLD36DA483F299A7F4
http://www.youtube.com/v/mJ5IkHlKQrw http://www.youtube.com/v/gGs1Fb10fRc&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/v/rmCHPq-_tlk http://www.youtube.com/v/KB4UlbGLH8U

[FideLeo]

"And when Bach's harmonies are marvels, as in the Chromatic Fantasia, his deliberate purpose is to astonish and bewilder. They are, in fact, like the harmonies of the 'Et exapecto' of the B minor Mass: assertions that faith is mere reason unless it can put its trust in mysteries. "  Donald F. Tovey

There is a tradition since late nineteenth century behind its popularity, that's for sure, considering that Bach wrote so many pieces in the genre of free forms plus a fugue. I might need to go to music history to find out how it fared previously.  Thank you for such a nice response.

[Bulldog]

Not at all - I do wonder why certain Bach pieces get more recommendation requests than others. 

Good job.  When you're cornered, you change the subject.

[Scarpia]

Good job.  When you're cornered, you change the subject.

I wondered why he was complaining that people are asking for recordings of Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue instead of the more worthy Partitas, when there is a thread about recordings of the Partitas.  The lord works in mysterious ways.   0:)

[FideLeo]

Good job.  When you're cornered, you change the subject.

It was never the subject - it's someone wanting a recommendation.  And you want to corner me?