Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 [Original recording remastered]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Kenneth Gilbert (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Kenneth Gilbert
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (April 8, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Archiv Produktion
• ASIN: B00008AD9S
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,599 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beth -- You're a Dope, January 17, 2005

By 

James Abraham (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (Audio CD)

To correct two of the previous reviewers:

1. They didn't mistakenly tune it down a whole tone -- "reference" pitch varied and changed all over Europe since the beginning of western music. Depending on the instrument and the country, A has varied from a low of about 360 Hz to a high of about 460. However, it is undeniable that pitch has been creeping up for centuries. So, for Bach's time, A=440 would have sounded probably a semitone SHARP.

2. There is no relationship between pitch and temperament. Temperament refers to the distribution of "the comma"; the reference pitch is merely the starting tone.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Recording - Clarification, February 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (Audio CD)

This recording is absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing. Gilbert is one of the finest harpsichordists in the world and his playing is particularly inspired here: he clearly has a passion for the material and it shines through in every prelude and fugue. The sound quality is high, the packaging is attractive and the price is extremely reasonable. Kudos to Archiv.

The previous reviewer has made some misleading statements which should be cleared up.

Modern tuning is based on the system of equal temperament in which A has a frequency of 440Hz.

However, it should be obvious from the title of these compositions alone that J.S. Bach composed these pieces for a WELL-TEMPERED instrument (for which A has a frequency of ~392Hz) and NOT an equal-tempered instrument.

Gilbert has recorded these pieces using an historically appropriate instrument (an 18th century harpsichord), an historically appropriate acoustic space (a baroque chapel) and the historically appropriate well-tempered tuning that was originally intended by the composer.

Do not let the ignorant blather of the previous reviewer dissuade you from buying this exquisite, hauntingly beautiful recording. It's probably as close as we can get today to what it would have been like to hear the great master perform his own works.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even-Tempered Bach..., August 26, 2007

By 

Sébastien Melmoth (Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (Audio CD)

.
Kenneth Gilbert's 1983 traversal--(remastered and reissued, 2003)--is a very even-tempered reading of the great 24. Gilbert performs on quite an old small instrument: a Flemish double-manual harpsichord of 1671. This is not an huge-monster harpsichord, but rather more akin to the clavichord--that is, having fewer strings and therefore a smaller, thinner sound: lovely.

The recorded ambience is wonderful: this performance was miked properly.

As for Gilbert's realizations, he takes a very balanced, even-handed approach. His timing is steady; his dynamics, by no means excessive.

I highly esteem Gilbert's realization; indeed, rate it with Kirkpatrick's Well Tempered Clavier, Part 1 on clavichord, and Gould's The Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I on piano.

By the way, while WTC Book 2 features some interesting and excellent preludes and fugues, they are much more uniform than Book 1 which includes very exceptional and eccentric pieces--therefore of more aesthetic value.
.