Bach - P&F in B minor BWV 893 from WTC II

Here's something I've been wanting to make for a long long time: a (small) contribution to the already well crowded page of Bach's WTC!

Bach - BWV 893 - Das Wolhtemperierte Klavier Book II - Prelude and Fugue No.24 in B minor ( 5:17 )

 

this is just my opinion...
and I am completely new to PS...

anyway...
though I never studied or read this piece, I found your performance wonderful!

 

I've been missing you alf. Been on holiday ?
This is very stylish and accomplished as could be expected from you. And, I am happy to see, correctly ID3 tagged. I like the vigurous and bouncy treatment of the fugue, which I tend to do more meditatively. THis is up the site.

 

Thank you, Felipe!

Yes. I enjoy vacations as most of the people, but they are poison for my technique, which easily gets rusty in very few days if I don't practice. As S. Richter once said, listening to Bach now and then is good, if only for hygienic reasons. I would add, also playing it!

Thank you Chris. As for the ID3 tags, I made a copy & paste from your P&F. 8) But I discovered that I am not so smart since I reproduced the misspell "woLHtemperierte"! :lol:
By the way, there is a more serious error about the description of WTCII No.15 played by Mr. Carnevale, which is in G major and not in F# minor.

 

Are you sure it's not a psychological thing? hehe
I mean... does your technique get really deteriorated, or it's a matter of, let's say... self-suggestion?

My professor says that there is an ancient idea that we "loose" piano technique if we stop playing for few days, weeks or months. But he doesn't agree with that (me too, hehe).
Of course we may get a little uncomfortable when getting the way back to piano... but after a few days of practice, we recover our technique in its totality.

I had studied piano from 9 to 13 years old. Then I stopped playing for two years. When I got back at 15, I could say I had not lost my technique. One month playing and it was back.

Maybe this idea of "loosing technique" after not playing for some time is only valid for athletic, extreme muscular pieces, which do need hands and body in very good "shape", let's say. Maybe the case of Rachmaninov's 3rd Concerto, Brahms's Paganini Variations... Alkan's Quasi faust :wink:

 

Even if it was a mere psychological thing, that would be less "real"? :wink:

Anyway, I agree with you about technique. I certainly expressed myself rather badly, since technique is mostly a very complex set of skills, and you for sure don't lose it after a 3-week vacation. My problem is that what I learn fades quickly away if I don't hammer it again and again and when I don't play for some days I feel like if I had to start all over again. Can you help me, doctor? :lol:

 

hehe
oh, of course not. what changes is the cause of the problem: its cause would be the mind, not the physical practice. hehe

that's right. that's exactly what happens.
but that's natural. to any "normous" pianist (including most of the virtuosi), any piece must be kept practicing so to keep it in fingers.

 

Hi Alf
A very stylish Bach indeed, as Chris said! I don't know this P&F set well, but I really admire how perfectly you've mastered the pieces and what a subtle refinement you bring into the structure of the music.
Your performance reminds me of Argerich's Bach in the best sense. (It's really a praise, although I suppose that Chris dislikes her Bach :wink: ) Anyway I could hear this performance again and again (I've heard this already three times 8) )

 

I suppose the Pope is Catholic :lol:

 

Great work! I enjoyed it a lot, especially the energetic and rhythm-driven fugue. Looking forward to hearing more recordings for you.

 

You should be more catholic. :lol: :lol:
Argerich's few Bach recordings are not so bad, invariably extrovert and maybe somewhere compulsive, but always musical.

 

Thank you very much François.

 

I'm glad you are tuned on my same channel. For me understanding the inner organization of a piece is the single most important thing I aim for when I learn something. And particularly in Bach this should be done without fail.

 

Thank you Andreas. Yes, "agogic" is right, in Italian also is "agogica", so I understand what you mean. I tend to play Bach without too much "agogic"; as a pianist I see it as a rhetorical device to be confined to the relevant junctions or where something important in the musical discourse should be underlined (harmonically or structurally).