J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue XI in F Major, I
Just as the Fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier are exemplars of the most masterful ingenuity of the form, each of the Preludes in the compendium is a textural world all its own. I particularly like the F Major for the slurred four-note melodic quavers; the slur is not just a suggestion of legato but in…
Free episode of my Bach series
Those of you subscribing to my 96-episode series, Everything We Need To Know About Playing The Piano We Learn From The Well-Tempered Clavier, will receive Episodes 31-40 this morning. I’ve lately taken to heart suggestions to include a bit more analysis in addition to the wealth of specific suggestions for execution on the piano for…
J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue X in e minor, II
So glad you can see the unattended pedals in the Prelude. This strict two-voice texture demands truest independence of dynamic arc and voice-specific varietal articulative spectrum. The more I play him, the more synesthetic Bach feels to me. I know that some of the more complex-keyed Preludes & Fugues are more than likely to have…
J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue IX in E Major, II
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J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue VIII in d# minor, II
My latest share in my social media traversal of the Well-Tempered Clavier. It was after recording the d# minor Prelude & Fugue that I had my superb piano tech, Oleg Schramm, see to the pianos. They’d not been tuned since the spring, but on a steady diet of Bach, they’d remained almost completely perfect in…
J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue VII in Eb Major, II
I enjoyed making an articulative panoply of this overture-like Prelude. The Fugue is suffused with as much serenity as the Prelude is with celebration. My 96-episode series, Everything We Need To Know About Playing The Piano We Learn From The Well-Tempered Clavier is now available by subscription at Become A Member
J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue VI in d minor, II
I know, the footage of the Prelude looks over-cranked, Tarantino-style. Swear to God, that’s just how my hands move. The Fugue is a Beethovenian universe, its subject and counter-subject inhabiting and cavorting variously within the orbits of 8th, 16th and triplet 16th figuration. A singular solar system. My 96-episode archive, Everything We…
J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue V in D Major, II
In my years of playing the piano for Elliott, back in Ohio, and Iman, here in Hollywood, I have come to know as established fact that cats love the key of D Major. Elliott was partial to my version of Pink Floyd’s Us & Them, Radiohead’s Give Up The Ghost; Iman has a favorite Rachmaninoff…
J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue IV in c# minor, Book Two
The summer of ’17 was my WTC Book One immersion. November ’18 through May ’19 were my months wholly dedicated to Book Two. The first of my home-recorded, one-take videos of the complete WTC began late this passed June, with a concurrent beginning to my 96-episode series, Everything We Need To Know About Playing The…
J.S. Bach ~ Prelude & Fugue III in C# Major, Book Two
One of the most eloquent and elastic of the organum Preludes evolving, erupting into an ecstatic Fughetta. The Fugue subject is one of the most bare, schematic of subjects and yet engenders an untold wealth of contrapuntal invention. “thoughtful and inspiring.” ~ Ludovic Morlot My 96-episode archive, Everything We Need To Know About Playing…