Customer Reviews

Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1

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

 

 

I am the owner of many versions of the Well-Tempered Clavier, both volumes. Gulda's, which I have just recently discovered, is now one of my favorites, to me equaling Glenn Gould's and Rosalind Tureck's incredible performances. Gulda's, like Gould's, is eccentric and as dry as can be imagined; stacatto, minimal rubatto, no pedal -- often hard, sharp, even harsh. But what clarity; the lines of counterpoint stand out perfectly. Each interlocking melody is clearly and beatufilly defined. I'm not a big fan of "mushy" Bach playing (though some of it, like Andras Schiff's, is very fine indeed). Here is a nice, arid rendition of Bach's keyboard masterpiece. At a bargain price, how can you go wrong?

It's all a matter of how many WTCs you can afford. I like them all. Not because I like everything, far from it, but because there have been some amazing performers out there over the years, making up for the fact that they don't improvise or create new music, creatively stretching Bach's paper, making it their battleground. If you thought Glenn Gould was eccentric, but (on reflection) maybe not quite eccentric enough, you should try this one.

It might be brutal to make this someone's first WTC, but this certainly is original, just when we thought we'd run out of ruses.

It's a VERY clean recording. Very sparse. Completely to-the-point. Exquisite clarity, close-mic'ed, no silly room reverb, and the felt on the hammers was probably filed and needled before each session! They did a great job re-mastering this 1973 session. This sounds like a Steinway up close, laid into phat analog tape, with all the tape hiss gone. Luscious. You can hear every wave bouncing off the lid.


Just when I thought rubato was the essence of consideration, here comes this approach, and it turns out rubato is a cheap trick. It's as if Gulda trimmed back most of the piano's sustain pedal, so it was harder to press, and decided to play sitting on a land-mine. This is to most other renditions as a Zen garden is to Chuck-e-Cheese. Glenn Gould sounds dreamy, in comparison. Gulda hits something on the head. Every note counts. Well, that's always true, but haven't you heard people WASTE notes? Most WTC performances are sort of "on the way to the next measure". But not Gulda's. It's like that thing he's sitting on is reminding him (and us) of our mortality, and of the importance of the moment. There IS something martial here as well. Indeed what makes it less than ideal for a beginner is how extreme it can be in all other dimensions while retaining those fixed tempos.

Now and then he fires off maybe the fastest WTC selection ever heard, as if demonstrating the futility of trying to outrun it, though he sprints like the devil. Then he comes back into focus, and it's like watching the I.V. drip again. Some tempos are almost below the range of a metronome. But, you see, every drop matters. He is SO effective in bringing out inner voicings, that a few sudden changes in the overall volume are puzzling, and may be mastering artifacts.

It's entirely unrobotic, even though the tempo is so rigid, because each note is placed with a meticulous micro-timing and dynamic that makes you think vertically, as much as some of the other great performances make you think thematically, or horizontally. It's not even a focus on harmony, it's the SPACE around the note, and how Bach set it up. I think it's brilliant, at times almost supra-human, like real AI. I've heard my fair share of WTCs. This one had me mesmerized on headphones; it sounds best that way. Heard at low volume, much of the subtlety is lost, and the occasional aggressiveness and dryness stand out.

You will find that it will land on/in your player whenever things get too messy in your life. It's especially a great set to add if you already have a baroque or romantic one. And if you listen very very carefully you can hear him hum -- or maybe it's the music of the spheres joining in.

Every time a pianist plays Bach on a modern instrument, they make an interpretive choice--the Well-Tempered Clavier is NOT the Equal-Tempered Grand Piano. I'm not so much a purist to claim that such an interpretive choice is wrong, but I raise the issue to point out that interpretation is inevitable. So to condemn Gulda for playing in an ahistorical style is wrong. Gulda is extremely aggressive, approaching the music like a pugilist, hammering every note in some of the fugues, treating the individual note with single-minded intensity, always playing without pedal (historically correct, of course), unrelenting and not at all Romantic. In spite of this intensity and clear committment to a personal vision of the work, one can question the particular choices he makes, and I find myself doing so all too often.

The C minor fugue, for example, is as dry and staccato as a sun-bleached bone. (The "thinness" other reviewers speak of is not, I think, a quality of Gulda's performance but of the instrument he uses, the room acoustic, and/or the engineering. ) Gulda's approach deemphasizes the sense of line most modern performers take, but allows him to think more structurally--he certainly shapes the fugues overall with varying levels of dynamic intensities. The 5 voice C# minor fugue comes off beautifully in this respect--I think it's his most engaging performance, and Gulda's intensity matches the dissonant quality of the work wonderfully. in fact, all of the C# pieces are excellent--perhaps it's Gulda's key! But the C minor fares less well. I find the dynamic swell at the end too great and too sudden--not quite a terraced dynamic that might have occured in Bach's instrumental music, but neither a carefully controlled crescendo. The effect seems more like a student who suddenly realises he's at the end and should have been playing louder, so saves what he can and overcompensates. Furthermore, in this particular fugue some of the countersubjects are lost due to Gulda's overemphasis on the subject proper. In the C major fugue, Gulda takes an extraordinarily slow tempo--I've never heard another performer take this tempo, or even anything near it. The consequence is that the stretto entries of the subject are quite easily recognized--not an easy thing in this fugue, with its constant stretti, but again, a feeling of longer line is lost.

Generally Gulda's approach is an excellent one for clarity of counterpoint, but I find the overall aesthetic almost completely unattractive. Clearly Gulda knows the notes, has made thoughtful choices about how to play this music, but it's not an approach that I prefer. Of course you should decide for yourself, but listen to the clips Amazon provides before you order.

We have even more variety of pacing and mood than his Book 1.

Gulda's sense of momentum is gorgeous. Yet in the C Minor he is so slow. Is he turning this thrilling prelude to mush? As one of the greatest pianists of the century and a great interpreter, his emphasis on the bass line is so solid and you can almost feel those demons in your breaths. A great artist is someone who is not just able to turn a work inside out, but in some cases also upside down, yet coming up with something as good or even better than the original. Sure, Dohnanyi (the conductor/ pianist) was one, Richter another, and Gulda too.


This is a very fine and distinctive Bach at very attractive price, almost a windfall. Highly recommended for those who would turn to WTC often, those who need to have a deeper understanding of, and those who desire to have some more insights into and inspirations from these pieces.

Admittedly Friedrich Gulda's playing of this Bach pieces may not win the hearts of those accustomed to more dramatic, Romantically-inclined intepretations, of which Daniel Barenboim's may be the most recent noteworthy example. But for me Gulda's elegant playing has earned a warm place in my heart for both its superb technical skills and a subdued dramatic style which strongly emphasizes counterpoint, without resorting to pounding on the pedals (Instead, he does occasionally pound away at the keyboard, but only when it is demanded of him from the score.). A maverick musically in many ways, Gulda adhered to a least dramatic, most technically poised, style of playing in his interpretations of Bach and Beethoven. I commend Philips for sonically enhancing this old analogue stero recording via 24 bit digital image remastering, providing a recording which sounds more intimate and life-like than a stereo LP version I had heard.

Remarkable recording of Bach's WTC. The fugues in D sharp minor and F minor alone warrants the price of the cd's. They're absolutely breathtaking in the slow tempo Gulda chooses (which he usually does for the minor key fugues). This is not a harsh recording as some may say; just listen to the preludes in C major and A flat major. SOME preludes may seem a little rough compared to other interpreters' versions, but Gulda uses his "attack mode" with sense and only when it fits the music. (Not like Gould with his inadequately fast tempos). Sound quality: superb. Do not miss this one. And by the way, Book II is just as good.

It's all a matter of how many WTCs you can afford. I like them all. Not because I like everything, far from it, but because there have been some amazing performers out there over the years, making up for the fact that they don't improvise or create new music, creatively stretching Bach's paper, making it their battleground. If you thought Glenn Gould was eccentric, but (on reflection) maybe not quite eccentric enough, you should try this one.

It might be brutal to make this someone's first WTC, but this certainly is original, just when we thought we'd run out of ruses.

It's a VERY clean recording. Very sparse. Completely to-the-point. Exquisite clarity, close-mic'ed, no silly room reverb, and the felt on the hammers was probably filed and needled before each session! They did a great job re-mastering this 1973 session. This sounds like a Steinway up close, laid into phat analog tape, with all the tape hiss gone. Luscious. You can hear every wave bouncing off the lid.


Just when I thought rubato was the essence of consideration, here comes this approach, and it turns out rubato is a cheap trick. It's as if Gulda trimmed back most of the piano's sustain pedal, so it was harder to press, and played sitting on a land-mine. This is to most other renditions as a Zen garden is to Chuck-e-Cheese. Glenn Gould sounds dreamy, in comparison. Gulda hits something on the head. Every note counts. Well, that's always true, but haven't you heard people WASTE notes? Most WTC performances are sort of "on the way to the next measure". But not Gulda's. It's like that thing he's sitting on is reminding him (and us) of our mortality, and of the importance of the moment. There IS something martial here as well. Indeed what makes it less than ideal for a beginner is how extreme it can be in all other dimensions while retaining those fixed tempos.

Now and then he fires off maybe the fastest WTC selection ever heard, as if demonstrating the futility of trying to outrun it, though he sprints like the devil. Then he comes back into focus, and it's like watching the I.V. drip again. Some tempos are almost below the range of a metronome. But, you see, every drop matters. He is SO effective in bringing out inner voicings, that a few sudden changes in the overall volume are puzzling, and may be mastering artifacts.

It's entirely unrobotic, even though the tempo is fixed, because each note is placed with a meticulous micro-timing and dynamic that makes you think vertically, as much as some of the other great performances make you think thematically, or horizontally. It's not even a focus on harmony, it's the SPACE around the note, and how Bach set it up. I think it's brilliant, at times almost supra-human. I've heard my fair share of WTCs. This one had me mesmerized.

You will find that it will land on/in your player whenever things get too messy in your life. It's a great set to add if you already have a baroque or romantic one. But, truth be told, I can't think of a better set to be the primary. And if you listen very very carefully you can hear him hum -- or maybe it's the music of the spheres joining in.

I first listened to Friedrich Gulda's recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier II, after borrowing it from my piano teacher and I was so overwhelmed by this performance that i ordered both vol.I & II from amazon.com as soon as I could! Gulda's perfomance is to me the exact way Bach piano works ought to sound: utmost precision, sensitive yet restrained dynamics (don't forget these works were written when the piano was going through an evolutionary phase, they're not supposed to sound romantic), subtle use of the pedal, well-chosen tempi. The interpreter's stunning techinque allows each voice to be treated equally (whis is not the easiest thing to do on the piano!), so that one can really understand and appreciate the contrapuntal structure of the works, especially the fugues. All in all, I totally recommend Gulda's Well-Tempered Clavier to anyone who wishes to listen to a recording truely faithful to the baroque character of Bach's piano masterpiece.

This is not a hitorically informed reading! It sounds a bit crazed in places to be honest, but is also often very beautiful. Not what you shoud have as a first recording, but Bach especially responds to an indivdual approach, and this shows the WTC I in a new light. Pretty good sound.

On first listen, this recording is a bit shocking. The performance is utterly clinical. The tempos are so regular and fastidious, the fingering so cool and mechanical, it almost sounds like a computer-generated MIDI rendering.

The recording too is utterly dry. The microphones are right on top of the instrument. You can clearly hear the notes spread left to right across the stereo image, as if you were sitting at the keyboard yourself.

Is the result unlistenable? Far from it! Gulda's distinctive approach emphasizes the MECHANICS of the music. It's an interesting and valuable persepctive on a work that is more than deep enough to support many interpretations.

Tureck is still my desert island choice for the WTC, but I'm glad this is in my library, too.

Recommended if you already have at least two other WTCs in your collection and are looking for something fresh.