Saturday, April 3, 2021

Bach: WTC I, Prelude and Fugue in B flat major

We are getting close to the end of our project, just a few to go and perhaps Bach was feeling the same because this pair of pieces are quite brief. The prelude is right in the improvisatory/fantasia tradition and has perhaps the most impressive fireworks of any prelude we have heard. Let's start by having a listen to both pieces on harpsichord. This is the Belgian harpsichordist Bart Naessens:


It is amazing how many different ways Bach finds to arpeggiate chords and that is about all we have here, apart from scales and, in the second half of the prelude, the dotted chords of French overture style. The prelude is all about fireworks and harmony.

The fugue has a very long, but rhythmically conventional subject unlike the one from the A major fugue, so it is fairly easy to follow it every time it appears. The first half of the brief fugue is basically just a few statements of the subject and answer and a sequential episode. Then we have a couple more harmonically interesting entries of the subject, one in G minor and another in C minor. Following that we have another sequential episode and that's it. In the harpsichord version, together they take less than four minutes.

Now let's hear Sviatoslav Richter where we can follow the score. He manages to play both prelude and fugue in just a hair over two and a half minutes! He does this mainly by playing the prelude at a terrifying tempo--and one that seems just right. Fireworks indeed.




3 comments:

David said...

The race on the piano is a close one! Maybe even a photo finish? Glenn Gould clocks in at 2'33 in his 1962 recording. Taking a much more leisurely pace, Angela Hewitt at 3'10 is still 40 seconds faster than your harpsichord sample.

BTW, the Netherlands Bach Society source for the video is a stellar resource for excellent Bach performances. The Society"s aim is to have ALL of Bach's works available in one place on the web.

Bryan Townsend said...

I didn't think to check Gould's timing! Thanks. So he was pretty speedy in the fugue as well, I guess. I agree completely with your estimate of the Netherlands project. I like to go there to hear performances that are fine, sober, and beautifully done, though not necessarily the most virtuoso.

David said...

Maybe the version of the Goldberg Variations performed by Jean Rondeau and posted to the site are the exception to your "not necessarily the most virtuoso" observation. The performance is certainly fine, sober and beautifully done.