This is a mammoth work, four and a half hours of music, not to be wolfed down in one sitting, i listened to this over roughly a week, it's a lot to take in, and if you don't know the WTC very well, then one Prelude can fuse into another Fugue, and it's hard to differentiate one from another, i've heard the work a fair amount of times myself, but there's 48 to learn and know and fall in love with, i'm slowly getting there, and it's certainly a work that i always relish listening to, i gave this a spin roughly the same time last year [21st August 2011].
Sviatoslav Richter is Ukrainian, 1915-1997, considered to be one of the greatest Pianists to have ever lived, but i'm not so sure myself, he recorded this great work in 1970 & 1972-1973, i must admit that the recording isn't great, there's a fierceness there, and with different recording venues as well, there's also the huge controversy of the interpretation by Richter, some devotees look at him as a piano demi-god, others like me wonder what all the fuss is about, i admit that he's very good, and in certain instances there's a superb level of genius, but on too many occasions he left me unfulfilled and wanting more, i found some of his decisions uninspired, and others just flatly 'wrong', he can certainly be a fast Pianist, and sometimes he gets ahead of the music he's playing, also in loud passages, he overemphasises the volume, yes he likes hammering out a section here and there, where more restraint would have worked wonders, some of my feelings for him should squarely be blamed on the piano / recording, i find it hard to love a piece if it's recorded poorly, the front booklet is very stark, a medium grey on very dark grey, just lettering and lines, though there's a wonderful symmetry to it all.
Well i could be here forever talking about all sorts of enlightening things happening all over the place, however i would like to focus down to just one Prelude & Fugue, and that's the Third one from the First Book BWV 848, Richter takes the Prelude fast, but not overly, it's actually a thrilling speed, all those fast treble notes that start things off [0:00-0:05], actually they're not really treble notes, they're mid keyboard notes by the right hand, loads of black keys here, it rocks back and forth between staccato and legato in such a superb way, there's a real motion to the whole thing, like a train going over the tracks, and the rhythm that it gives, towards the end of the prelude there's a nice density [0:42+], the Fugues can sometimes let the show down with Bach, but this time the Fugue is nearly as good as the Prelude, an impish thing, but it grows in stature as it continues, and has a depth to it, love the trill toward the end [1:19], this now takes its place as my favourite Prelude & Fugue of the 48 [until next time!].
Here's Richter playing the Third Prelude & Fugue of Book One on YouTube [BWV 848].
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