Oh joy. Piano was tuned today and I recorded all I had planned to to (and not more, for a change ) I believe these are again a little better than the previous or perhaps that is wishful thinking.

Bach - BWV 847 - Das Wolhtemperierte Clavier I - Prelude and Fugue No.2 in C minor
Bach - BWV 871 - Das Wolhtemperierte Clavier II - Prelude and Fugue No.2 in C minor
Bach - BWV 876 - Das Wolhtemperierte Clavier II - Prelude and Fugue No.7 in E flat major

Chopin Mazurkas opp. 17 and 24 to be uploaded later.

Here is the famous C minor prelude from WTK I which I used to play a lot and a piece I kept in my repertoire for a long time. Really good technical exercise too. And it is pretty well executed but I kind of expected a more significant tempo change for the presto part. But even though it is marked presto, most Bach experts agree that presto by Bach's time did not mean b=176 which almost makes it impossible to execute. I would consider reading Sigling Bruhn's in depth analyze of the entire WTC I & II (enormous work she put in there!) and about this specific prelude and fugue at:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~siglind/wtc-i-02.htm
You mark the melody very clearly of the first beat of each bar and even make use of the sustain pedal in this set which I am not sure if I ever heard you do before. If I was to choose, I would do a slower and more tempo steady performance but noone can tell you what is right and wrong in Bach (especially on the piano) and that is one thing that makes playing Bach so fun. The fugue is too well executed and you use the sustain pedal there too which I cannot decide is for better or worse.

The P+F in C minor from WTK II is a no pedal recording and a really good performance. Better than the WTK I if you ask me. Very good articulation and phrasing. Candy to my ears and I have really nothing to complain about at all and I feel the same about the E-flat major P+F.

Overall, very good!

Chris, I enjoyed your book one 847. And the rest. It has lots of feeling towards to my taste. Especially the 847. By the way its a grade 8 level. Means its quite a changelling piece.

The second one, I felt you could hold the stacatto notes a bit longer but rather semi detached. Sometimes I felt it was little rashed away from its its melodyl. Otherwise, its a great piece to listen.

Please play more of BOOK 1.

Thanks robert and johnmar.
I actually use the pedal semi-regularly in the WTC but in such a way that you usually don't hear it (expect for that I think it sounds better ). But in cases where I don't feel 100% secure I guess it gets noticed. Like in that damned C minor prelude from book 1 which I have really problems with - I'm still not quite convinced of the result here, but it wil have to do. I can't do the presto much faster right now, but perhaps the first part should be a bit slower. I like it fast though...

Yes I will post more of book 1, but I'm trying to give book 2 equal attention - it always gets a bit neglected compared to book 1. I guess by the summer I should be about completing the whole lot.

WTC1 c minor P&F: I very much enjoyed the fugue, lively played and with good dynamics!
The prelude sounds however uneven here and there. Seems that you leave your rh pinky on the first note for a quarter or half note during the first part of the prelude. I assume you do that to accent the first rh note more. More consequently would be to do the same with lh. Personally I like more the version with 16th notes all the way (that means how it is written in the score). I am used to faster versions on that prelude, however it is better to not play over the limit of course.

WTC2 c minor P&F: Sounds very good to me. Especially I like that staccato playing of the 8th notes in the prelude, regardless which hand has those notes. Also the fugue, very well!

WTC2 e flat major P&F: Very good articulation both in prelude and fugue. Great achievement that you can play such a 4 voice fugue with complex different note lengths in the voices in that consistent rhythm and also speed. Also, considering the practising time which can't be that much since you have such an unbelievable large recording output. My deep respect for that!

Yes it is not as even as I would want it to be. Very hard to maintain that evenness. Yes I keep that top note on purpose as that is where the melody is (not in the LH so I do not want to do the same there) but find it hard to do that consistently which makes it sound a bit messy. I'd also like to take it even faster but then I get into trouble when the Presto comes as that needs to go even faster.


But here is where you are wrong. I worked on these 3 pairs diligently, playing them several times a day and rehearsing the difficult parts, ever since my last batch of recordings. It is the only way to get some quality improvement even though it is not quite enough yet.