Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier

[FideLeo]

I like WTC played and recorded on the organ so long as the reverb time is not overlong.

Robert Levin's recording is a good example.  He even got away with a rather brisk tempo without the sound all turning into mush.


Prelude and Fugue in E major, from Book II

http://www.youtube.com/v/-ssePALi9lo

ps. All my examples were recorded and play in HD for a more decent sound/image quality. 

[Opus106]

I like WTC played and recorded on the organ so long as the reverb time is not overlong.

Robert Levin's recording is a good example.  He could even get away with a rather brisk tempo here.


Prelude and Fugue in E major, from Book II

ps. All my examples were recorded and play in HD for a more decent sound/image quality. 

Nice, thanks. Is this from the Haenssler set?

[FideLeo]

Is this from the Haenssler set?

Yes it is - I am surprised how infrequently Levin's recording is mentioned though.  Most accounts with mixed instrumentation don't seem to be very popular. 

[Mandryka]

I like Koroliov's WTC.

His articulation is interesting  and effective. He shows that a Steinway, played well, can be warm and round. He  makes each prelude and fugue sweet and simple.


He sounds completely at ease with the complex polyphony. Each voice is articulated independently, and in a way which makes it intelligible -- that's quite an achievement on a modern piano. The more rapid fugues are extremely clear. The work sounds limpid But at the same time his tone is warm and the style is not totally detached -- the phrasing is long and the articulation almost legato. That combination - limpid independent voices, and each voice played lyrically -- is, I think, pretty unique.

If you look at him on youtube, he seems totally physically relaxed and supple even when he plays some very difficult fast music.

At the emotional level he uses dynamics -- really stunning crescendos -- to produce some very moving climaxes.

I like his AoF too.

[Mandryka]

I don't think so. Don rates it at the top, I took his suggestion and loved it. Stuart had the same results. I know that there were others, but I forget who they were.

Well I don't see it, at least on DG. Is that the one you all like so much?

[George]

Well I don't see it, at least on DG. Is that the one you all like so much?

yes.

[FideLeo]

Another performance of BWV 878, this time on a Silbermann fortepiano.  The original poster thought it was performed by Robert Levin, which is probably incorrect information.  If I were to venture a guess, this would be from Daniel Chorzempa's set for Philips (OOP) which also has a mixed instrumentarium consisting of chamber organs, harpsichords, clavichords and a fortepiano.

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

 

[FideLeo]

Jan Michiels plays would be a latterday version of BWV 869 on an 1875 Steinway grand piano.

http://www.youtube.com/v/G6x7uGgiFaY

b-minor p&f from edition 1908 by Bela Bartok.

[FideLeo]

Bernard Legace plays the b minor p&f from Book I on an organ of modern make.

http://www.youtube.com/v/cmf2hoSRtuQ

This sounds like sloooow mooootion in comparison to the pianoforte version by Michiels above. 
Not surprisingly, his book II spreads over three CDs.   Can't say this is my ideal way of listening to Bach. 

[Que]

The concept of a WTC on organ appeals to me. Anyone familiar with this recording?



Q

[prémont]

Anyone familiar with this recording?

Yes, but have not listened to it for a long time. I remember it as stylish as to the details if rather strict.

[FideLeo]

Yes, but have not listened to it for a long time. I remember it as stylish as to the details if rather strict.

An example that one can actually listen to would be most ideal. (hint hint)

MP3 links are available for the separate books on amazon fr but only 30s long. 

[Bulldog]

Is that right? Do people really think so highly of her recorded WTC?  I have the DG one. It doesn't seem anything like as nice as  her best work -- which I would say is the Goldbergs and Partitas on Great Pianists. But maybe I have the wrong recording or maybe I'm missing something.

I'd take Tureck's WTC on DGG over her Goldbergs and Partitas.  You might be missing something or perhaps your taste sucks.  On the other hand, you and I are in total agreement about Koroliov's complete WTC, so your taste must be mighty fine.  Clever Hans, a fellow member here, also loves the Koroliov set and is actually the man who turned me on to Koroliov.

The important point here is not to get bogged down in just a small number of versions.  There are many wonderful sets on both piano and harpsichord; get all of them.

Someone brought up the Levin sets on Hanssler.  I very much appreciate the variety of instruments he employs, and his Fugue in B flat minor from Bk. 2 is alone worth the price of admission.

[Opus106]

Another performance of BWV 878, this time on a Silbermann fortepiano.  The original poster thought it was performed by Robert Levin, which is probably incorrect information.  If I were to venture a guess, this would be from Daniel Chorzempa's set for Philips (OOP) which also has a mixed instrumentarium consisting of chamber organs, harpsichords, clavichords and a fortepiano.
 

At times it sounds like a (moog?) synthesizer. I'll let it pass because it's Bach. 0:)

[FideLeo]

At times it sounds like a (moog?) synthesizer. I'll let it pass because it's Bach. 0:)

What sounds good sounds good.  I love the sound of most Silbermann fortepianos I have heard on record.   


Robert Levin also uses a fortepiano in his recording for pieces which he deems to be 'in character' for the instrument, which Frederick the Prussian King obviously loved, too.  I shall post a fp entry from the Levin set later, which in general has a less deadpan kind of sound pickup.

ps. Last time I checked, Daniel Chorzempa has been a Director of the Neue Bach Gesellschaft, Leipzig.  An actual Bach priest! 

[FideLeo]

I shall post a fp entry from the Levin set later, which in general has a less deadpan kind of sound pickup.

Robert Levin plays BWV 886 (A-flat Major) p&f on a replica G. Silbermann fortepiano

http://www.youtube.com/v/8Hd8AWkHxWk

[Opus106]

Robert Levin plays BWV 886 (A-flat Major) p&f on a G. Silbermann fortepiano

Just in time! I was about to turn the computer off and hit the hay. Thanks for posting this. Initial reaction: I find this sound comparatively better.



P.S.: What's with the penguins?

[FideLeo]

Just in time! I was about to turn the computer off and hit the hay. Thanks for posting this. Initial reaction: I find this sound comparatively better.



P.S.: What's with the penguins?

Well yes I agree Levin made the wise choice of playing a replica instead of an original.  Chorzempa, as I remember (don't have the set with me at the moment) plays a rare original Silbermann fp for his recording.

The penguins?  They are on an oversized postcard my partner sent me from New Zealand the other day.  For some reason the descending left-hand figuration in the Bach prelude reminds me of the bumbling lot.

[Opus106]

Well yes I agree Levin made the wise choice of playing a replica instead of an original.  Chorzempa, as I remember (don't have the set with me at the moment) plays a rare original Silbermann fp for his recording.

Given similar recording conditions, would an original sound so different from a replica, if we can even call it that?

For some reason the descending left-hand figuration in the Bach prelude reminds me of the bumbling lot.

[FideLeo]

Given similar recording conditions, would an original sound so different from a replica, if we can even call it that?

Good replicas (this one by Thomas and Barbara Wolf, Washington DC) usually aim to imitate the original in as new condition, something originals obviously can't do unless extensively restored.... Chorzempa's original is a museum item, so in its case the restoration may have been kept to a minimum.  Also it seems to me that Levin's recording was more closely miked than the other, with somewhat 'warmer' acoustics.  Not easily comparable, I think.

Levin is one of the few musicians that I have heard that do Bach with plenty of humour.