Customer Reviews

Bach:The Well-Tempered Clavier

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was quite amazed when I noticed that no-one has rewiewed this recording! German superpianist Edwin Fischer made first complete recording of this work in 1930's. In my opinion, it's still truly best performance. Other excellent choices are Rosalyn Tureck's, Glenn Gould's and Andras Schiff's recordings. If one wants to listen legendary cembalo version of this work, excellent choice is Wanda Landowska's recording. Edwin Fischer's recording is magical. You can't stop listening to it. After you have heard the first prelude in C major, you have to listen the whole first book of preludes & fugues. And after that, you automatically start the second book. Fischer has very beautiful singing tone. While you listen, you can imagine yourself sitting in a huge church, where a beautiful soprano sings the melody, and a small chamber orchestra makes a great accompanist. Fischer also makes the dynamic differences and the so important thing in Bach, articulation, in natural way. The sound quality is very good, and EMI has managed to put this work in three CD's, each holding up to 80 minutes of this fantastic playing. And it's mid-price. Warmly recommended to every pianist, everyone who likes Bach, and everyone who wants to get to know his music and style. Mind-blowing performance!

The sound is a little grey, but the performances are just so bright and warm and luminous. I don't know why the tempi struck another reviewer as weird; they seem unfailingly correct to me. Fischer's performances have an unhurried feeling to them, yet they are also fully focused and full of brio. This is a tough combination of qualities to muster. The individual lines are brought out with great definition, each one with its own special phrasing, very expressive, and very alert to all the music's implications. And there is a sense of humor, and a real tenderness. Although Gould's WTC is still my favorite, I would pick Fischer's treatment over Andras Schiff's, or either of the two Sviatoslav Richter versions I have heard. I waited a long time to hear Fischer because I didn't think I was going to like his approach. Finally I found the Naxos issue of this material at a very low price and decided to check it out. If you love this music you really ought to hear this marvelously satisfying, deeply insightful and musical reading. What a wonderful surprise it was.

After reading the reviews I managed to obtain a cheap copy of this set and expected the worst/best. After playing the entire thing through at least four times in two days I'd say that if I had to replace it I'd shell out the full price in a second.

First, the sound is good on the early recordings, great on the later. Given that these are 70 years old I was a bit startled and totally pleased. Unless you really can't adapt to older-sounding recordings (a situation I find analogous to not being able to handle silent movies or--to a newer generation--black and white films--sad!) this shouldn't be a factor. Frankly, I find the quality of older recording often charming and less wearing on the ears; a recording from the 1930s often makes for wonderful and atmospheric late night listening.

Second, these are exercises--practice pieces---and as far as this reviewer's concerned anyone can play them any darned way they want to. I mean, why would anyone complain at all about different interpretations of--above all others--THESE short works? A professional pianist should be able to charge into one of them once and a while at full gallop just to see if he or she can do it, or drag one out and milk it for all the sadness one can. There's a tendency these days to get more than a bit weird about performances--we judge them by measures of perfection rather than by expressiveness, passion, or other less quantifiable aspects.

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say this about that (and risk annoying some with horrid generalizations that happen to be true!). I've noticed in my long lifetime that those who really can't evaluate things in depth and breadth often use detail and superficial ideas of perfection as their standards of excellence. For these types, it's the clothes you wear or the car you drive over who you are or it's by-consensus fancy credentials versus genuine accomplishments. It's perfect, not-a-note-out-of-place audiophile studio recordings in preference to passionate live recordings in imperfect sound; it's trendy, rated, expensive restaurants versus those that actually might serve good food or pricey designer labels over quality fabrication. Literally, a person like this can't look at a work of art and judge it, but they sure can tell if some paint's been slopped a bit or a note hasn't been hit cleanly. Whenever I take an individual like this to task, corner them and ask them to explain-in depth--why they think X is preferable to Y their answer is invariably the eel-like "it's all a matter of taste"--the most irresponsible aesthetic non-judgement possible. Overall, as a culture, sometimes we have real difficulty understanding that good does not always equal perfect. "Perfect" is the realm of math and geometry, not art. Worse we often don't even know what "good" is any more.

With that said, I'd admit that although Fischer misses notes and flubs up a bit, overall this is about the most satisfying WTC I've encountered yet, largely because of the spontaneity and emotion he manifests in most of the pieces. This will be my "keeper" in the same way that the equally flawed and controversial Schnabel Beethoven sonatas will always be my first choice. I find it amusing to think that if Beethoven himself had recorded his sonatas in old scratchy sound and with (almost certainly) plenty of mistakes audio perfectionists would probably still prefer note-perfect renderings by robots.

[Final note: what I mention about our inability to make good judgements is an immense problem in our culture right now, far transcending the intents of this music review. Look around you and see how everything is evaluated these days: Does it make me money? Does it get me power or connections? Does it make me "look good"? Will it get me a good job? Will it get me sex? Does it make me popular or accepted? It's all about opportunism. Far too many people I know are amazed that I do things out of intellectual curiosity, that I learn skills for their own enjoyment, that I study art or music scores, or read books, for the pleasure of finding new things or maybe to find out where I am and what's going on around me. People like myself have always been a minority but seldom have they been so marginalized, as many of you reading these kinds of reviews no doubt know. Never has having a good general knowledge base been so downgraded. Read Barzun (Western Civ.) on the perils of specialization]

The Swiss pianist Edwin Fischer (1886-1960), whose roster of students included the great Alfred Brendel, is still much admired today. His complete recording of both books of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier took three years to make (1933-36). By today's stratospheric technical standards Fischer is not infallible in execution, and the inability to indulge in microscopic editing means that these "one-take" recordings of the Preludes and Fugues are not mistake-free, far from it. In fact, some of the latter half of Book II in particular is downright slovenly (the sloppy A major Fugue, No. 19, is a prime example--obviously it was not one of the pianist's favorites!). Nor is the monophonic sound free of noise, though the EMI mastering results in surprisingly vivid piano sound.

Still, if one can listen through such drawbacks the virtues of Fischer's playing do become apparent. His Preludes and Fugues are neither Romantically over-inflated nor pedantically "correct," a trap modern-day historically informed performances can easily fall into. Fischer's most striking virtue is an unforced natural warmth and humanity . At his best he makes Bach flow with an enviable ease--the F major Prelude from Book II has a gossamer, silken quality that few others achieve. The well-known F-sharp minor Prelude is heart-rendingly phrased, and there are many other telling examples of the pianist's unique insight. As with the late performances of Maria Callas, it is not possible to overlook the technical glitches--they are simply too numerous and sometimes glaringly apparent. Nevertheless, as with Callas, the compelling quality of the musical ideas is ample compensation. For serious Bach lovers this set still deserves a place on the shelf. The 3-CD set is a bargain at this price.

I happen to have both the EMI and Naxos versions. The former is only of marginally better sound quality only. I rather prefer the version on Philips' Great Pianists of the Century-- but that is not a complete set of the old testament though.

In Edwin Fischer, we could perhaps look for three things. First, his superb legato sound. Only Hofmann and Serkin or and not even Freire could really compare with him on this score. Second, coupled with a super legato is his luminous sound particularly those from the chords which could be so powerful and dramatic: very close to or even better than Arrau (except his Waldstein). Third, a SPONTANEITY and FRESHNESS that makes the piece sound like improvised instead of mannered or alculated, even if not mechanical-- it was mainly because of this that pianists of the older generation couldn't, or rather wouldn't, play the way we do. The ultimate result, a bell like sound with which Fischer commuincates his experience with Bach or even communion with God which tanscends. It's a sheer power of divination: it's heavenly music that he has to offer.

The expense of spontaneity and freshness? Some "wrong notes". Yes, quite a few. It's the music and music making that matter after all: shouldn't we focus on the essentials instead of the unessentials, unless there is a thirst or hangover for some piano exam/competition? Note that some pianists (say, Rachmaninov, Friedmann and Horowitz...) even deliberately changes the scores intheir performances; whereas the others prefer one authentic version to the others, and composers themslves would edite his own works almost all their life....

The playing quickly explains the set's reputation. Fischer sounds modern and fresh, applying a light touch throughout, often at nimble speeds. Not every prelude or fugue is resolved convincingly, but most are and Fischer gives a deeply insightful account of the music.

This is Bach the way I would personally play it, but I can understand the many objections to recording. The sound isn't great, there are plenty of errors which make one grind one's teeth in frustration, and some of the tempi are, in my opinion, suspect - the D minor prelude in Book 2 is actually quite hideously fast, and sounds very nearly out of control - it is as if someone were holding a gun to his head to compel him to play as fast as possible. Some small passages are nothing short of a mess. However, despite all this, some of the recordings are of such noble intent I find it within myself to forgive many of the errors, and smile benevolently instead...but others may not be so forgiving, and the interpretation might seriously grate some people. You must have a listen before you buy - I was horrified upon listening to the aforementioned D minor prelude when I first got the CDs, but fortunately I found the majority of interpretations to be to my taste. The programme notes in the CD are also quite modest - I expected more than just 4 pages from Gerald Kingsley and a short tribute from Brendel. One could always buy Tovey's analyses, I suppose, dated though they are. I like this recording, but others may not, so definitely try before you buy.

Hearing Fischer play the WTC is the closest I've come to a religious experience listening to classical music.

He really has a unique persective on this music, and his is my favorite of the multiple versions that I have heard.

Granted the sound is very bad...hissing, popping, and what sounds like birds chirping in some parts. But I'll still give it 5 stars because to have this awesome music on record is worth bearing the less that desirable audio.

Bach -as Shakespeare- admits multiple visions, due and thanks to his genius. In the case of this Bach, we feel in these performances, a sidereal vision loaded of that visible and invaluable approach of a deep thinker, admirable ppoet and master musician always searching and sincerley worried about for the last meaning of the musical expression.

As you may realize (in the case of Mr. Gould, for instance, Richter on other hand and Egon Petri, just to cite a few but prominent artists of the keyboard), the expression is much more important than the traditional fidelity of the score, because every artist redefines according his visions the sprit of the work.

These performances are loaded of spiritual conviction and profound devotion for the work itself. And Fisher achieved a special status in this sense, because these visions far to stir Bach, enriches him still more.

Absolutely recommended.

You can hear music that is unavailable to a harpsichord. I didn't realize that WTC sounded like etudes. Now I do.