Customer Reviews

Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier 1 & 2

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was brought up on Tureck's Well-Tempered Clavier and have eagerly awaited this CD issue ever since CDs were invented. I am not disappointed. The tempi are occasionally slower than some modern performances (Schiff, et al)but the crystal clarity and articulation is amazing. Listen to the B-flat Fugue (No 17) in book 1 and marvel at the way the different voices are brought-out. By comparison Schiff seems unsubtle and Gould sounds (to me) crude. Is Tureck true to baroque style? Who knows. This collection is pure music at the very highest level - not a history book! The recording is not wonderful by today's standards but more than adequate once you have got used to the tape hiss. For me, this edition is definitive.

This is perhaps the most beautiful recording that I have had the pleasure of hearing. I also have piano interpretations of the Well Tempered Clavier by Edwin Fischer, Glen Gould, Andras Schiff and Jeno Jando. While the Fischer recording is also an essential purchase, Tureck's is the only one that holds me spellbound from start to finish. Her tempi are highly variable (note that she was a major influence of Gould's style of playing), but her composure and control are never in doubt. There is quite a lot of background hiss which can be troublesome at first, but over time this became totally insignificant in relation to magnificent music. To me, this music is perfect - one of the only works that, for me, creates the impression of time standing still.

Yes, there is tape hiss, but it's unobtrusive and should not hinder the musical appreciation of any true Bachian. As to tempi, Tureck has a feel for expressing the timeless quality of the WTC, and at her most successful, tempo concerns dissolve. Go to Gould for pianistic virtuosity and an ego that sometimes bruises phrases, other times lifts them to heights of expressive potential; to Fischer (on Naxos) for the personality, the character of each prelude and fugue; to Hewitt for dynamics of almost Lisztian vibrancy, and to Schiff if you want bland, generic vanilla Bach. But if you want your WTC to approach something of the spirtuality and depth of the Matthew Passion or the B-Minor Mass, go with Tureck. She invests every fiber of her apparently reverent soul into each note, a performance which the light of heart can confuse with ponderousness. In short, Tureck's WTC is a must for those who must have their Bach mean as well as say something. For them, considerations such as tape hiss are trivial.

This remastering of a 1953 DG recording is a treasure in that it captures one of the 20th century's Bach specialists at her prime. For Tureck or Bach groupies, this 4-CD release is perhaps a must-have. But, for the hiss... at some tracks a faint whisper and on other tracks a veritable steam leak. Outside of pirate recordings of that era, I've heard no other early 50's remastering with so much intrusive noise. The amount of hiss surprised me, particularly since this source came from an established, presigious recording compny. As for the liner notes, the proof is left to most American students, since the text is only in French and German. So, Ms. Tureck gets a "5" for her artistry and love of Bach, and Deutsche Grammaphone gets a "1" for an inconsistent technical recording, for an overall "3."

The Tureck recordings of the Well-Tempered Clavier are so old that they were originally released on monaural LPs. My first exposure to them -- and to Tureck -- was the re-released, enhanced-to-sound-like-stereo versions. Like this CD, the more recent LPs are based on old monaural recordings that show their age.

But for me, at least, the background hiss is worth it because I am entranced by Tureck's rendition of the Preludes and Fugues. Yes, many of them are slower than more recent recordings, and you can't hear her singing as prominently as if Glenn Gould were at the keyboard (oh wait...), but what I have not seen her critics mention below is her voicing: her ten fingers create three, or four, or even five independent lines in each of the fugues. Give a listen to the C# minor fugue from Book One for an example. Any 4-year-old can learn the four-note subject in four seconds. But this cathedral of a fugue, with its new multiple subjects introduced at the end of the "exposition", is a monster to play contrapuntally. All five voices are heard independently in this recording.

Tureck has the speed necessary to execute the brilliant preludes, as well; witness the D Major, d minor, and Bb Major fugues from Book One.

I confess I am not familiar with many of the other popular recordings of the WTC, so I have little to compare this recording to. However, I recommend this recording. I also recommend Tureck's recordings of the partitas, and the Goldberg variations.

i'm just a country bumpkin, but i like to think i recognize greatness when i hear it. these mono recordings from 1953 have greatness all over them, to my ear. i see a couple of reviewers complain of the sound (not the performance) but to me the sound is fine. these are recordings from 1953 after all, and the somewhat archaic quality of the sound seems to add to the sense of music from another time and place that is thrilling, at least to me. there is so much warmth and heart to her playing that any technical matter regarding the transfer of the music from analog to digital is beside the point. this is simply stunning bach music brought to life by a master interpreter. get this by all means. then, if you want a recording of this material with a more updated technical sound quality, get till fellner's "das wohltemperierte klavier." that is wonderful, as well.

There are other artists who have provided highly creditable performances of the "48". However, I am unaware of any other pianist having Rosalyn Tureck's extraordinary ability to play a fugue of up to five parts with all voices being distinct and of equal weight (as would be the case with, say, a harpsichord performance), yet at the same time having the same voices so subtly shaped as to provide a seemingly indefinable yet very present individual dynamic and rubato where she feels the writing supports this; a wonderful characteristic unique to her and her unparalleled dexterity. That perceptive writer, John Ardoin, put it more succinctly when he referred to Tureck's "strong, independent fingers". Quite extraordinary.

The first example of this is immediate - Prelude 1 from Book 1 - a work well known to nearly everyone and generally done to death by student pianists (not to mention Gounod's mawkish travesty) so one might be tempted to think "Yes, OK, but let's move on". However, the first two or three bars are hardly complete before one's attention forcibly is arrested; here is something very different! And so it continues throughout this great collection.

Tureck often is criticized for the apparent slowness (in comparison with others) of some of her tempi. I find her choices in this regard to be entirely appropriate but in any event, these speeds are far from being arbitrary considerations; after all, Rosalyn Tureck was the author of, inter alia, "Introduction to the Performance of Bach" running to three volumes. Detractors may find something of value therein.

Having been brought up at 78rpm, I find it second nature to tune out the surface noise. Although several reviewers have commented upon this, it really is not at all obtrusive and in no fashion detracts from the immense enjoyment to be derived from listening to these four CDs. The quality of recording is very much better than, for example, the Glenn Gould offerings of a little later in the 'fifties and put out as CBS Masterworks. The CBS recordings were mediocre from the start; surprising given that Gould was very interested in recording techniques but no amount of digital chicanery will provide that which never was. Gould's having Steinway provide a very individual regulation of his instruments usually resulted in at least one and often more sour notes which quickly become irritating. None of this sort of thing with this DG recording which I find entirely acceptable. In any event, I should rather keep the minimal level of hiss than lose the music.

Dammit, if Rosalyn Tureck had done this cycle on wax cylinders, it still would be the best!

The 'professional' reviewer writes of Tureck, "she often romanticizes the music with slow tempos and extremes of dynamics." Either he is utterly ignorant or I listened to a different recording. NO ONE exercises more restraint than Tureck, in her tempi, her phrasing, and ESPECIALLY her dynamics. Without being heavy handed or pedantic, she manages to make each voice in each fugue sing with a marvelous vibrancy that is only slightly hampered by the poor sound quality (the only negative to this album). Listen to Tureck and you will realize how truly awful Gould is, especially in the WTC. Schiff is like light beer compared to this. The only version that comes close is Hewitt's, but she is still no Tureck. This might be the finest recording ever made for the piano, I do not exaggerate.

I've listened to this set of discs for about 8 years and I still get that indescribable feeling of elation because the music is so beautiful and so beautifully played even if this is a vintage mono recording. This is truly a gem. I agree that it's a desert island disc.

I recently acquired this recording.
I was a bit apprehensive when I previewed the download because of the backgound noise but after listening to the complete recording I agree with other reviewers that this recedes as a distraction once the listener focuses on the performance.
I chose "undeniable" for the title of my review because Tureck's interpretation gave me the feeling that the music was almost "singing itself". I had the image of water flowing down a stream- it couldn't flow in any other way. To me this is the highest compliment to a musician. I am not asserting that other interpretations are not valid
but I have not found any other performance that allies the performer and composer so seamlessly.
This quality is what I admire in her Goldberg and Partita recordings as well.
Five stars. For me this recording is the benchmark