Prelude and Fugue No.17 from WTC II -- Bach

Outside of analyzing a couple of the Two-Part Inventions, this is the first piece by Bach that I've done, so it is wide open for your opinions on interpretation. Thank you for listening!
~Brett

Bach - BWV.862, WTK I. Prelude and Fugue no.17 in A-flat major

 

Another Bach cherry popped, huh? I think you did a great job. I have to play something by Bach every semester....and something by Chopin every semester.....the other piece can be whatever. :lol:

I'm not familiar with this set. Is your teacher a Bach purist, or did you only go purist for your cherry-popper, or do you just like it that way?

 

This is actually the no.17 from WTC I, not from WTC II.

I did not like your prelude much, which sounds rather pedantic with its studied dynamics and jaunty accents. Question of taste, surely. But it sounds hurried to me, whereas IMO this is one of the most exalted preludes.

The fugue is well done. Some notes were inaudible, but securely negotiated and the voicing clearly audible. I think playing the theme detached here is dangerous, as you can't possibly keep this up when it apperas in the middle of the other voices. Things get a bit hectic at 1:25 and some places afterwards where you get a bit dogged and suddenly speed up (as you sometimes also do in the Chopin and Rachmaninov recordings). Lastly, you should not be afraid to apply a firmer tone in Bach (I needed to learn that too, always had the habit of playing it very softly).

 

Terez, I not sure if my instructor is a Bach purist; she seems to do more with Bach than any other composer, but as for her interpretations, she doesn't necessarily promote a straight approach with no dynamic fluctuations, etc... She does suggest things like rolling the chords as you would with a harpsichord, but I didn't do any of that with this piece. She has mentioned that I play the Fugue a bit too straightforward.

Techneut, sorry about thinking it was from Book II, you're correct, it's definitely Book I. That's cool if you didn't like the interpretation; I can certainly see where some people might prefer this approach, and others would dislike it. Also, I agree with you on the end section where I suddenly rush; when I'm playing the piece, things like that don't sound at all off, but when I listen back to it, it's like "wow, what was that?" It's one of the things I like about recordings; it allows you to listen back on the piece to see if you really sound like what you think you do.

 

This is well done in a straight forward manner. As already mentioned, a couple of notes not audible but it is not really problem. In this p/f in particular, I think one could and should take some liberties on the interpretation. It kind of asks for it but who could possible know what Bach himself intended.

I have by now put up your biography and this set of prelude and fugue but I merged the two recordings into a single track which is more suitable for the site.

Welcome to Piano Society!

 

Awesome, thanks for the welcome and for putting me up on the site!