Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well Tempered Clavier - a beautiful rendering, 15 Mar 2008
I have listened to two other versions of Bach's WTC, including Glenn Gould's attempts. His version is widely and often, cheaply available - I bought his version because of this - but his version is in fact a very idiosyncratic interpretation.
I was impressed by Gould - the virtuosity, the velocity and robotic snap of his playing, but the music sounds like a victim of vicious discipline - it will leave you impressed, but maybe also cold. If you want to discover the Well Tempered Clavier, don't buy Gould's impression first like I did. It is an unsuitable introduction to this work, and apart from leaving me cold, it left me feeling slightly confused and disappointed. Leave it till you know the work, and you will appreciate the eccentricity of his interpretation more after you listen to a more accessible one.
Listen to Rosalyn Tureck's recording instead, and not only will you be impressed, but also touched. Her playing is calm, rich and sonorous. She nurtures the melody and it responds by swooping and soaring. As a result the music has a narrative that can be caught by the ear and interpreted by the heart.
The two are both very different approaches but they both sound very personal. For me though, the Tureck wins because it is so instantly touching and human.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A cornerstone of Bach reading, 18 April 2009
The Well-tempered Clavier (to quote German musicologist and critic Joachim Kaiser) is Bach showing that he was a better composer than anyone before him, or after him. Not for nothing is it called The Old Testament of piano music (Beethoven's sonatas being the New One).
Clearly a work this crucial to the development of Western musical culture deserves to be looked at from a number of angles. So, forget arguments about harpsichord vs. modern piano. Listen to both - you'll understand this magnificent opus the better for it.
About Tureck: What sets the great legendary pianists (from Rubinstein and Horowitz via Gieseking and Serkin to Gilels) apart from even the finest of today's men, is not their technique. It's their comprehension of the work at hand within the context of the complete body of work, the lives and times, and the personality of the composer. Modern recording and performance schedules, increased media pressure and competition don't allow for truly intensive study.
Among the last of the great, in this respect, was Rosalyn Tureck. At a time when it was all but impossible to perform Bach on the piano anymore (since Wanda Landowska dominated the world of Bach recitals on the harpsichord - though, in fact, a harpsichord which came close to a modern grand piano...), Tureck stuck to her guns, and got into Bach, deep. She made Bach her life. And to two generations of listeners who were unsatisfied with the sound world of the harpsichord (which, by the way, in its day may have been replaced by the piano forte for a reason), Tureck was Bach.
Her readings are intense, at the same time thought out and emotionally satisfying. They are a lot slower than many others (particularly the early Gould - but then, so was the late Gould), giving the space between the notes meaning. Often the music seems to hang in the air, floating about like a fog of musical beauty. For a comprehensive understanding of the Well-tempered Clavier, these renditions have to be experienced.
I also own a reading on harpsichord, and both Schiff's and Kempff's (shortened) outstanding renditions on piano. But this is my favorite. Moving, like no other.
As for the sound quality: I am listening to this on high-end equipment, and I find no flaws whatsoever. Excellent job by the BBC folks! There is an older, different version of these works by Tureck around, which has pretty sad sound quality. Any mentioning of bad sound quality must concern that other version. This two box (6 disc!) edition is remarkably clear, and beautiful.
No small investment, but one very much worth it.
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~ Johann Sebastian Bach
~ Rosalyn Tureck
~ Johann Sebastian Bach
~ Johann Sebastian Bach
~ Johann Sebastian Bach
See all 24 tracks on this disc
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