Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier / 48 Preludes & Fugues [Gulda]This work is well represented in my Blog of late, and it's a work that i'm getting to know pretty well, only two weeks ago i played the set by Tatiana Nikolayeva [19th November 2011], and the differences are enlightening, both sets have their own merit, but it's good to see what two different magnetic Artists can do with the same music, it just goes to show the depth that can be found in the same score, Gulda is more dramatic, with greater extremes of fast / slow, and soft / loud, but Nikolayeva brings out a disarming innocence, and lets Bach's work speak for itself, plus she's much more subtle, and comes up with surprising ideas that just feel right, i prefer her much more, but Gulda is more than worth listening too, coming up with startling pianism too, both sets are preferred to either, each one can enlighten the other in what can be done, i urge anyone not to stick with a tried and trusted Artist, but always buy more than one version of those works that you love.
Friedrich Gulda is an Austrian Pianist, he died in 2000, almost 70, he extensively explored Jazz, and refused to bow down to Classical orthodoxy, and was quite a character, but he isn't a wayward Pianist, he really does do every Composer justice, this is a 4 disc box set, sadly this second hand copy comes without the booklet and the outer cardboard sleeve, and yet it's still a tremendous treasure to own, the 4 discs split up the whole work unevenly, so that the second disc has the first 3 Preludes & Fugues of Book Two on it, but this is a slight complaint, if you know the work you can find your way around, each Prelude and Fugue is cued separately, so throwing the disc of shuffle becomes impossible, the front cover shows a side profile of Gulda [photo by Pim Westerweel], with a black background, and nice side lighting, showing up lovely contours and highlights, very well done.
This set was played over a number of days, with a disc a day so as not to oversaturate myself in Bach, and i found this music ever so enlightening, what an incredible Composer Bach was, an endless array of profound music, there's lots of this music which still blurs into the unknown for me, but in listening to these discs, some important lines were crossed, i started to peel away the layers, and got to know some new friends.
So what of the music?, the pieces that touched me the most were Preludes 3, 36, 39, 42, 45 & 47, i guess i got inspired towards the end of the work, usually it's Book One that moves me the most, i would like to give a small synopsis on each of these pieces,
Prelude 3, my new best friend!, i just fell in love with this prelude, i got it stuck in my head, and i played it over and over again, not knowing which one it was, once one hits you like this, and you have one of these experiences with it, you can finally put a 'name' [number] to it, it's like being a new Teacher at a school, and having to learn hundreds of Schoolchildren's names, but once you have a good experience with one, you never forget them, it's a lively and fast piece, more baroque than most, with a delicious tune, cascades of notes, both in the right hand and left hand, though i don't feel that Gulda traverses the gears towards the end of the prelude very well.
Prelude 36, it starts off as a jumpy slowish piece, but then transforms itself into a legato of real beauty and invention, the right hand reaches up into some nice treble territory at times, and another superb tune to boot.
Prelude 39, a regal sounding piece, played with superb stature by Gulda here, i love the way Gulda restates the opening [0:34+], with a unsuspecting understatement [and again at 2:12+] a lovely 'laugh' trill [1:13], and from Gulda there's a delicious sense of uniform steadiness, all straight lines and conformity, instead of elbows and sharp corners.
Prelude 42, more of a tense Prelude, you can sense a certain foreboding of its G Sharp Minor-ness, but again Gulda reins it in, and he can certainly win you over with a long term consistency of line and repetition, i like the way the right and left hands blur into both carrying the tune at times, it's quite long [nearly 6 minutes], and it really benefits in being so repetitive, it gets under your scalp and into your memory.
Prelude 45, a lovely turn of phrase in the treble starts us off, as if a twinkling star, i can see how Shostakovich was moved by some of these pieces to compose his own 24 Preludes & Fugues, each piece is in essence similar, just so Bach, and yet when you listen carefully, every one has a unique DNA to it, each one can be loved differently, i love the treble chiming of tiny bells as it were, another Prelude that Gulda sustains so well, again it's long [the second longest P & F of the whole set].
Prelude 47, Gulda plays this loud, probably too loud, and when he does this i usually wouldn't pick it out as a favourite, it at first seems one of those 'ordinary' loud Preludes from Bach [can anything be 'ordinary' from him?], but the piece is redeems by the sheer power of a central phrase which knocks you off your feet [0:49+], but soon disappears in the melee, it's a heart jumper for sure, and Gulda just gets it right, it comes out of nowhere!, fantastic.
As a postscript, i have to mention the very last Prelude, a dour bumbling of a piece, stuck halfway towards the bass, i went to bed with this in my head, and when i woke up it was still there!, another little friendly demon possesses me!, what a fitting end to the 48.
Prelude 3, my new best friend!, i just fell in love with this prelude, i got it stuck in my head, and i played it over and over again, not knowing which one it was, once one hits you like this, and you have one of these experiences with it, you can finally put a 'name' [number] to it, it's like being a new Teacher at a school, and having to learn hundreds of Schoolchildren's names, but once you have a good experience with one, you never forget them, it's a lively and fast piece, more baroque than most, with a delicious tune, cascades of notes, both in the right hand and left hand, though i don't feel that Gulda traverses the gears towards the end of the prelude very well.
Prelude 36, it starts off as a jumpy slowish piece, but then transforms itself into a legato of real beauty and invention, the right hand reaches up into some nice treble territory at times, and another superb tune to boot.
Prelude 39, a regal sounding piece, played with superb stature by Gulda here, i love the way Gulda restates the opening [0:34+], with a unsuspecting understatement [and again at 2:12+] a lovely 'laugh' trill [1:13], and from Gulda there's a delicious sense of uniform steadiness, all straight lines and conformity, instead of elbows and sharp corners.
Prelude 42, more of a tense Prelude, you can sense a certain foreboding of its G Sharp Minor-ness, but again Gulda reins it in, and he can certainly win you over with a long term consistency of line and repetition, i like the way the right and left hands blur into both carrying the tune at times, it's quite long [nearly 6 minutes], and it really benefits in being so repetitive, it gets under your scalp and into your memory.
Prelude 45, a lovely turn of phrase in the treble starts us off, as if a twinkling star, i can see how Shostakovich was moved by some of these pieces to compose his own 24 Preludes & Fugues, each piece is in essence similar, just so Bach, and yet when you listen carefully, every one has a unique DNA to it, each one can be loved differently, i love the treble chiming of tiny bells as it were, another Prelude that Gulda sustains so well, again it's long [the second longest P & F of the whole set].
Prelude 47, Gulda plays this loud, probably too loud, and when he does this i usually wouldn't pick it out as a favourite, it at first seems one of those 'ordinary' loud Preludes from Bach [can anything be 'ordinary' from him?], but the piece is redeems by the sheer power of a central phrase which knocks you off your feet [0:49+], but soon disappears in the melee, it's a heart jumper for sure, and Gulda just gets it right, it comes out of nowhere!, fantastic.
