Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier [Nikolayeva] 

Another airing of this wonderful 4 disc set of Bach's 48 Preludes & Fugues [19th November 2011 & 5th August 2010], endless enlightenment, i played a disc a day over the last four days, it's certainly hard to take the whole lot in one go, and on this listen, i tried to especially hear the less well known pieces, to try and bring them into the light, i think i made some new 'friends' this time around, it's almost impossible to truly keep your attention on examining the whole lot, some pass 'under the radar', while others just somehow 'catch your eye', but i can certainly say it's like learning a new language, a day in a foreign country will always mean that you'll pick up a few new words each time, i got to know these pieces better, which will stand me in good stead when i decide to take another visit.

Tatiana Nikolayeva is Russian [1924-1993], a great interpreter of Bach, and of course a great friend to Shostakovich, she recorded this great work here in 1984 in Tokyo Japan, unlike a lot of Nikolayeva's discs, this one has a really good front cover, Nikolayeva obviously not young anymore, but the portrait is a good one, and certainly the black on yellow lettering on the right works well, a lovely boxed set, the back inlay card is well laid out, giving a Prelude & Fugue only one track number, this is actually helpful as it allows me to play each disc on random, which is my preferred way of listening, if the Preludes and Fugues had separate track numbers, then playing on random would split up such pairs, and wouldn't work, so everything seems so well laid out, and a joy to listen to and follow.

Well there's so much that is worth mentioning here, and yet i want to keep my Blog entries fairly concise, so i'll just mention two, and that's Prelude & Fugue 3, and Prelude & Fugue 27, which are actually the third pieces of each of the two books, and therefore both are in the key of C Sharp Major, and however great number 3 is, it's actually number 27 i want to concentrate on, it's one of the numbers i haven't noticed before, and the Prelude sounds almost like a more complex version of number 1 [from Book One], and for that i love it all the more, i like the way Nikolayeva gets a lovely ringing tone out of the piano, the top treble notes are emphasised, and i feel she has that ability to differentiate 'voices' within a piece, nicely terraced, she starts off gentle too, as if the piece floats in from nowhere, the whole thing just seems perfect, i've listened to the Gulda version, and it's very similar, it's one of the strangest Preludes as it has a very sharp change of direction towards the end [1:17+], it's like the Prelude has it's own very Prelude & Fugue within!, it suddenly jerks into another gear, and the volume suddenly shouts, but it's thrilling, the change can be overemphasised, but i think Nikolayeva gets it right here, on the original listen i liked the Prelude more than the Fugue, but on analysing it more here, i find the Fugue so compelling, it's even better in retrospect, it's a very jerky and staccato Fugue [1:50+], with individual notes purposely sticking out like sore thumbs, and wow do i like that, it's like the piano equivalent of hiccups!, those emphasis's on some notes over others works wonders, and then a little later there's trills coming in, and they're a treat later [2:50-2:54], the Fugue goes from an obviously jerky staccato to a more smoother version towards the end, it's a superb Prelude & Fugue that is now firmly my 'friend' for ever. 

Here's Nikolai Demidenko playing Prelude & Fugue 27 [BWV 872] on YouTube, i must admit he plays it quite fast, and gets a completely different feel to the piece than Nikolayeva.

Various Composers - 'Fire & Ice' Violin Showpieces [Chang/ Domingo-Berliner Philharmoniker] 

This is one of those wonderful albums that i term 'Violin Showpieces', i don't know if that fits, maybe more correct would be 'Concertante Works', but i so love these albums, all made up of singular pieces, a dozen to a couple of handfuls of works, on this disc it roughly translates to 9 minutes per piece on average, the equivalent of an Overture or something, great variety, this disc is called 'Fire & Ice', meaning warm slow pieces interspersed with icy works of bravura, or it it red hot virtuoso works interspersed with cool and calm works?, either way it's a great mix, and it's amazing what their is in the repertoire to choose from, and this is a well chosen programme, with a couple of pieces that are different enough so that this disc doesn't fall into 'the same as everybody else' syndrome, plus Sarah Chang is an ardent interpreter, bringing warmth and a strong projection to all of these pieces, appeared in my Blog earlier in the year [7th February 2012].

Sarah Chang is American, she's now 32, and she made this recording in 2001, the front and back cover photography [by Sheila Rock] is excellent, crystal clear images, the jet black background, and the lettering in orange and blue really stands out, it was inspired to have 'fire & Ice' written sideways, a quarter way off the booklet, makes it look fantastic, a great visual.

Well i especially liked the Beethoven and Bach works on this disc, and i was pleasantly surprised by the Beethoven work, not something i listen to a lot, and not a work i have been particularly enamoured to, but on this listen i thought it was so sublime, but to top that, it was the Bach work, the famous Air from his Suite 3, maybe overplayed and overexposed, but here Chang plays it with the utmost refinement and simplicity, unassuming nobility, the opposite of a showstopper that it can be in the wrong hands, it starts out of nowhere, almost as if it's in mid flow, there's no 'hey i'm the violin Soloist here' about Chang, she smoothly just lets Bach take the front seat and the glory, it's her sweet gentleness that pays off in dividends, the whole work has a slow tread that is purposely unhurried, it's fairly monotonous, but in the most excellent definition of the word, it's hard to pick out any one section inparticular, as the whole piece seems to gel into one whole, and Bach ends the thing without any flourish or finale to it, so it turns up as if it's always been there, and it goes as if it never came, i just can't get this tune out of my head now, it's one of those things i'll wake up with next morning, and it's still going on repeat in my head!. 

Here's Sarah Chang playing the Bach Air on YouTube.

Bach - Goldberg Variations [Perahia] 

Another listen to this wonderful disc [19th August 2010], and one of my favourite Pianists, however i always seem to have reservations about him, his Chopin Ballades for instance, i don't see what all the fuss is about, he concentrates very heavily on Bach, i'm not always in agreement with the repertoire he chooses, but his decision to do more Brahms is very welcome indeed, there's certainly a bit of 'staccato tendency' about Perahia, certain variations have a bent towards staccato, where a more legato approach would have worked so well, but there's invention aplenty here, and with a variety of thirty variations to play with, there's a mesmerising number of approaches that can be thrilling, and Perahia remains very much at the service of the spirit of Bach, lovely recoding sound to boot as well.

Murray Perahia is American, but living in London i believe, he's now 65, and he recorded this disc in 2000, the front cover photograph [by Ken Schles] is an inspired one, i take it it's photographed in his home, with his own piano, a shot where he's very much in shadow, not a silhouette, but not far off, a nice line of light down the right hand side, and a good use of the out of focus foreground piano, and especially the piano lid prop, behind in the background there's the open window, with washed out light, it's a great study in extremes.

On this listen i especially enjoyed Variations 5, 8, 10 & 14, and i would like to explain each one in more detail,

Variation 5 [10:28] - A fast variation, with a certain kind of stuttering main melody in the right hand, and a fast up and down the keyboard backing in the left hand, and it's the odd treble stabbing notes in the middle that are so affecting [0:30-0:32 & 0:46-0:48], just the lovely way that Bach uses legato and this stuttering staccato at the same time to wonderful effect, must be a demon for Perahia to play.
Variation 8 [15:04] - Another stuttering variation, this time the bass notes are staggered in such a way that it's as if Perahia is only playing every other note, and the mid keyboard warbling of the right hand is delicious [0:00-0:12], and hands change over in the melody / backing, the whole thing is just delightful, you don't want it to end, this could have been made into a piece of music all by itself.
Variation 10 [19:07] - A piece of ingenious trills, really it's a fugue, and listening to the many different voices in all areas of the keyboard, it's like a Barbershop Quartet in different voices, very majestic indeed.
Variation 14 [29:44] - The very opening notes sound like they come from Philip Glass's Metamorphosis, it's just something he would do, and they sound fantastic, again it's full of trills, bass and treble trills seem to play at will, there's staccato there, but the most fantastic things about this variation is the combination of trills and moving down the keyboard in the right hand [0:15-0:23], now that's terrific, that sounds so exciting, and when it comes back again it's just an immense wow [0:46-0:53], the left and right hands sound as if they're talking all over each other, but they making so much sense, like two twins that finish each others sentences, it's as if they're psychic, another two of these excellent trills also delight us [1:17-1:24 & 1:48-1:55], this time more central keyboard, a complex piece that sounds so obvious, but it took Bach to reveal it to us, probably my favourite variation on this listen.

Here's Murray Perahia playing the whole Goldberg variations on YouTube, the timings after each variation in yellow above, are where each variation lies in this video.

Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier [Gulda] 

Now this is a phenomenal set of the 48, Gulda is one of my favourite interpreters, there's a gentleness and insight which is amazing, some Pianists throw muscularity into their playing, as if decibels means deepness, there's a simplicity about his playing, just let Bach do the talking, instead of pushing aside Bach and projecting your own ideas into the music, i listened to this set over four days [12 a day], and each day i so looked forward to hearing some more, it's an endless discovery of music, there's so much to take in, so many pieces to fall in love with, on this listen i crossed some new lines, and i now know this great work a smidgen more than i did last week, this set has appeared in my Blog twice before, at the beginning and end of 2011 [2nd December 2011 & 11th January 2011]. 

Friedrich Gulda [1930-2000] was Austrian, he recorded these discs in 1972-1973, it's a wonderful fatbox set of four discs, now re-issued as two volumes of two discs, but this is the original, and presented in this way it's absolutely fantastic, the front cover photograph [by Pim Westerweel], is also an incredible visual statement, a side profile of Gulda, the nearside of his head darkened, but his face lit superbly, a black & white shot showing contours and and outlines, with a jet black background it creates a stunning visual statement, this is a set to be treasured, but ultimately the worth of the set grows as you put some 'listening milage' into it.

There's so much to enjoy here, to even begin to describe the 'discoveries' in this listen is just so overwhelming, the many pieces which were a sure thrill were 1P, 3P, 6-7P, 9-10P, 13P, 17P, 19F, 29-31P, 36P&F, 37P, 39P & 45P [where P = Prelude, and F = Fugue], certainly too many pieces to adequately talk about, so i will just concentrate on three pieces, the three that really touched me the deepest, as you can see from my 'shortlist', the Preludes far outweigh the Fugues, however the three that astounded me the most were the Fugue of 19, and the Prelude & Fugue of 36, so here's a synopsis of both, 

Fugue 19 [BWV 864], Only 1:39 long, and in A Major, of course as a Fugue goes, one voice follows another, then another, and so on, there's a climbing figure right from the start, a single note stab, then up the keyboard we go, it gets more and more complex, until the treble right hand starts running wild [0:40+], and the other hand starts to copy, quite breathtaking really, Gulda paces it really fast, but it works superbly.
Prelude & Fugue 36 [BWV 881], In contrast Gulda plays this Prelude real quiet and slow, and again creates a real magic with it, this one's in F Minor, it's later in the Prelude that it's best section comes out [2:30+ & 4:01], a sort of change into the treble, and the developing of a more lyrical melody, it's a magical moment, the opening notes keep coming back from time to time, and really add to the spell, the Fugue by comparison is really jerky, very repetitive, Bach gets the Keyboardist to constantly stammer on the same note before moving on, it's a lovely effect, i like the way it gently quiets for one of these episodes [0:38-0:48], [& 1:12+ & 2:25+], a great fugue that really weaves a magic.

Bach - Goldberg Variations [Schiff] 

This is a truly inspired work, and yet it's not greatly represented in my Blog, this is its fourth appearance, and Schiff on Decca was a version i grew up with, i really love the way Schiff interprets this work, he has a newer Goldberg Variation that he recorded for ECM, and i bought this disc also, and not wanting to have two separate discs kicking around, i amalgamated them into one case here, and it's this newer ECM recording that i listened to and i'm reporting here, i find it very much the same, very slight differences in fact, they are about 20 years apart, Schiff was 30 and 50 respectively.

Andras Schiff is Hungarian, he's now 58, he recorded this disc [ECM] in 2003, it's a live recording, the Decca front cover [by Peter Schaaf] shows Schiff leaning on the side of his piano, hands clasped, white bow tie, half of the photo covered by the piano lid, which conveniently makes a place for the lettering, i like the shadows of dark and light on Schiff, one other thing, the Decca recording has only six tracks, of roughly five variations each, so i rubbed some transfers on the back inlay so that i know where i am, the ECM recording has separate tracks for each variation.

I must admit i enjoyed this interpretation very much, but i also admit that it's not as great as his Decca recording, the variations i enjoyed the most were 5, 8, 19-20 & 29, and here's a short synopsis of these variations,
Variation 5 [7:13] - A nice rolling yet chugging Variation, it has a lovely flow to it, the hands must be going mad, fast passagework in sixteenths.
Variation 8 [0:00] - A nice loud variation, not unlike the Fifth, yes it is in fact the twin of the Fifth, fast passagework again, with hand crossings and large octave leaps, Schiff plays it fast, and it's really thrilling.
Variation 19 [0:00] - A nice Morse code Variation, fairly muted, nice and lyrical, Schiff uses some clever little touches which brightens things up on the piano that wouldn't work on the Harpsichord.
Variation 20 [1:02] - This is where Schiff gets quite individual, and quite different in some ways to his Decca recording, but i like it, he is more staccato, especially in the repeat of the opening [0:26-0:39], a sort of staccato boogie of the original!, further on in the Variation there's some tremendous virtuoso runs up and down the keyboard.
Variation 29 [0:00] - Almost to the end, and there's a sort of finality about the last couple of Variations, and here the virtuosity is absolutely brilliant, Schiff really gives it a send off, fast arpeggios and runs, all those notes on the page must be very daunting for lesser Pianists, and the longer the Variation goes on the more and more notes that come screaming at you, now that's very satisfying musically, probably the best Variation of all on this listen.

The links are to YouTube with Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Variations, the timings after each Variation is where in the YouTube video the Variation starts.

Bach - The Well Tempered Clavier - Books 1 & 2 [Richter] 

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].