Customer Reviews

Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books I & II

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once again Nimbus Records goes the distance and gives us a boxed set of the complete Well Tempered Clavier with what can only be described as a sublime performance by Bernard Roberts, but at a price that can be afforded by many. If you already own a copy of his recording of the Complete Beethoven Sonatas then you will want to add this recording to your listening shelf. I would even go so far as to say that this recording can stand up to the ones by Gould and Schiff. The Performances and the price make it a clear first choice.

If you can get hold of this please do. It is simply an outstanding performance. It mixes contrapuntal clarity, balance and perfect phrasing with a musical integrity, and a mastery of the keyboard that comes from not only a great technique but more importantly mature judgement.

Lary Goode writes it all. I followed his advice and got this box.
Long time I've been searching for a good performance of the 48. First I tried Hewitt, convinced that she would do. Something, I don't know what, made me disappointed with her performance. Since I love Schiff's performance of the Goldberg Variations on ECM, I then felt sure that he would do the trick on the 48. I was wrong. Mostly he plays too slowly. Then I tried Tureck, the BBC Legend-performances, not the DG. There is some convincing Bach-feeling about Tureck's playing.
But these incredibly cheap recordings with Bernard Roberts are much better. For the first time I feel the first book as one unit, one concept. Roberts' playing is easily flowing, not without some ornamentation, but mostly quite pure. I guess my search stops here!

This is possibly the best ever performance of the WTC on record. Perhaps only Edwin Fisher or Ralph Kirkpatrick on harpsichord (LP, used only) is in the same league. Comparisons with them are not to his disadvantage either.
Owning over 50 performances of these pieces sometimes drives me crazy. Which one to listen to? However, this set immediately became my favorite. Direct communication of the holly spirit leaps off the keys with this set. In no other set is the voice and spirit of Bach more clearly related.
Comparisons with Hewitt show that Roberts possesses greater depth and coherence, with much more emotion. Compared to Schiff, which is wayward, heavy, lacks tension and momentum and stalls, and is unacceptable (D grade,) Roberts is direct, articulate, stylish and musical. For all you Gould fans, listen to this set to see how insensitive, lacking in depth, frustrating and ultimately, boring Gould is. Comparisons with Kirkpatrick on Clavichord in Book II are closer, though the still prefer Roberts for greater spirituality & inwardness. Compared to Landowska, who is romantic, heavy handed, wayward and perhaps lacking in depth & true understanding, Roberts is structurally clearer with greater sensitivity to Bachs's spirit. Gilbert, usually good, is just plain boring, dull, lifeless. Jarrett, technically perfect, is unmusical and sounds like a computer next to Roberts. No depth at all. Richter, typically, lacks depth and comprehension. Jando, romantic, lightweight, lacks any intensity at all. Tureck is great, almost matching Roberts in depth, but plays to slowly which can be problematic for some-Noisy recordings too. Roberts is tighter, playing with greater integrity, and still greater spirituallity.
Play this, then play any other after and you will see just how good Roberts is and just how great the work is.

Bernard Roberts is someone who I'd characterize as a master crafsman who can be relied on to give a good interpretation of the works without taking them over (e.g. like a Glenn Gould). The result is not just good listening but its makes for a recording that's an invaluable study aid for anyone who's trying to learn this material. Since the 48 are not just pieces of music but Bach's demonstration of styles and keyboard technique -- something that Dr. Roberts seems to understand very well -- you end up with a lot more than some CDs, a plastic case and a few sleeve notes......if you could only figure it all out, of course.

That rare example of a recording that will get into your head, take hold of you, enrapture you, alter you. I bought it last spring, loaded it onto my iPod, and listened to it everywhere I went: on the subway, in the streets, in my kitchen while ironing, in the shower. It quickly became one of my top-5 albums in any genre, and remains so.
For those unfamiliar with the WTC, the music is bottomless and never wears out its welcome. Everyone will have a different set of highlights, but for me the jewels are mainly to be found on Book I: the Prelude no.10 in E minor, which seems imbued with a hushed romanticism that foreshadows Liszt, though without the gross excesses--it builds to an almost unbearably gorgeous climax at the end, only to resolve somehow on a major note, as so many of these pieces do; the Prelude no.8 in E flat minor, which distills the essence of melancholy and hovers, in defiance of gravity, about the tonal spectrum for three exquisite minutes; the fugue no.13 in F sharp major, a little gem that keeps turning up delightful quirks in the course of its 2.5 minutes; the fugue no.4 in C sharp minor, which seems to comprehend the world's sorrows, unraveling spools of melodies that intersect with each other in startling ways.
But this is only the beginning. WTC is a life-companion, to be digested slowly over time, and Bernard Roberts interprets it with aplomb, sensitivity, and the highest level of artistry. It's a recording that leans toward conservatism, which I think is a virtue; Roberts never allows his personality to distort Bach's music, though his signature is indelibly written on each piece. Though admittedly I don't know a great deal about piano technique, his execution seems flawless, particularly when compared to some other versions of WTC. This, combined with the unmatchable price, makes this WTC a set you can't afford to pass up on. Coltrane said that the ultimate aim of music was to change the listener's thought patterns. WTC does this--and changes, too, your whole perspective on emotion. It's also a great point of entry into Bach's music, and will lead you, in turn, to the ocean of the cantatas, the Goldberg variations, the masses, and so on. Do yourself a favor and buy this.

I picked this CD set, totally relying on the reviews underneath, and I came to absolutely agree with other reviewers when listening to it. This is wonderful set of the complete WTC, having great quality of performance.

This bargain box set of The Well-Tempered Clavier represents a typically moderate British compromise between those "maverick" recordings such as that by Gould or Gulda which actively seek to impose the pianist's personality on the music and those more modern interpreters who risk being labelled "sewing machine" exponents by dint of their haste and rigid adherence to metronomic regularity. I am aware that my label could be interpreted as meaning that this performance is dull, safe and pusillanimous, but I do not mean to imply that Bernard Roberts is artistically unadventurous. However, I do like the way he avoids mannerisms beyond a penchant for trills and arpeggiated chords. He also employs a little expressive device whereby he injects tiny ritartando which for me do not always work, in that they can sometimes sound more like a hesitation than a deliberate emotive effect, but by and large I find his playing very absorbing. Tempi here are very steady but never mechanical and everything is beautifully shaped and articulated. There is a nobility and restraint in Roberts' approach that does not preclude passion. I think it unadvisable to try to listen to this music in more than twenty or thirty minute sittings - maybe five or six pairs of prelude and fugue at a time; it requires too much concentration from the average amateur listener like me.

As well as being highly musical, unexaggerated performances, this set offers two other great advantages: a bargain price and superb sound.

This recording, by a fine pianist very well recorded, is riddled with small rhythmic errors and lurches. It happens especially often just after a trill, as if he had trouble getting his hands back in place. I found it very jarring, and it happens often enough I have to give this a very negative review.

Roberts is also not as good as some pianists -- Schiff and Gould for example -- at keeping the separate voices separate. The rhythm errors do not help.

The recorded sound is first rate.

This is the first time I have listened to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and I found the music to be simply amazing. Bernard Roberts definitely did a fine job of recreating this masterpiece, as he did with Beethoven's piano sonatas. I can see why the Well-Tempered Clavier was an instant classic and why everyone thereafter would learn this and Beethoven's piano sonatas first if they wanted to learn how to play the piano. It is also great music to have playing in the background while doing most anything, but it blows me away when I actually pay attention to the recording. This should be considered first class music under any professional musician's standards!