This prelude and fugue remind us that Bach was a very virtuoso keyboard player and he lets it rip in both these pieces. The prelude is in the unusual mixed time signature of 24/16 on top and tempus imperfectus (or 4/4) on the bottom, which just means that there are six sixteenth notes to every quarter note.
The editors of the Neue Bach Ausgabe go over the top a bit by putting both time signatures in both staves. Really not necessary. Apart from the ferocious fingerwork, there is not a lot going on here. Bach touches on several keys, but keeps up the fireworks to the end. It is rather like a concerto movement.
The fugue shares a similar spirit, with a lot of sixteenths in the subject together with two wide leaps of a seventh. These become significant in the course of the fugue as we notice when Bach gives us several entries of the subject in inversion. The upward 7th leaps become downward leaps. The turns in the subject become inverted turns and so on. There are a couple of incomplete strettos where the subject begins in one voice and is joined in another, but the first is an incomplete statement. Again, this feels rather like a concerto movement. Here is that subject:
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And the beginning, in inversion:
Apart from that there is nothing especially tricky in this fugue. It is rather "a good time was had by all" sort of piece. Bach originally wrote these pieces to teach his children and sometimes it is good to learn that music can just be sheer exuberance.
Here is a performance on harpsichord by Ketil Haugsand:
Bryan thank you for this ... and for your recent presentations of Bach ... who always manages to offer us some sanity in this nutty world. I love the harpsichord for about 9 minutes; it seems to throw up a kind of static, not sure if it is the built-in buzz or what ... I really do enjoy it but I can see why the end of the 18th century rush to the piano forte occurred: different colors, different sustain, different harmonics and no buzz .... something electric about the harpsichord before its time...
ReplyDeleteO and slightly off topic ... I recently came upon a recording of Angel Romero performing Villa Lobos Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra - a 1977 recording, kind of slapped onto a 3 disc set of Enrique Batiz recordings of the Bachianas Brasileiras. Is Angel Romero the best guitarist in the world or what...?
ReplyDeleteSegovia used to say that a harpsichord sounded like two skeletons making love on a tin roof. I've always liked the sound.
ReplyDeleteI think that Angel's brother Pepe Romero might have been the best. The tough thing about that concerto, which I have played with orchestra, is that the most demanding guitar part comes right at the beginning, before you have really warmed up.
I agree - I would never slight Pepe - he is magnificent; I notice his hands are a bit more slender than Angel's; Angel has an incredibly confident right hand. Speaking of the Villa Lobos Concerto ... isn't the beginning of the third movement with that zinger descending scale difficult? Do you have a recording of your performance? I love the 2nd movement, which I could actually play at one time (just prior to the Cadnenza, where the orchestra sits out a bit) ....
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of the third movement is pretty easy. But the beginning of the first movement is a killer! There was a recording as it was broadcast on the CBC, but I lost my copy to an evil moving company. Argh!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Pepe ... he makes informal moments majestic, as in:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRQJISiSRCE
He still has this amazing technique.
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