The Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

Johann Sebastian Bach (Artist), Glenn Gould (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 11, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000028NI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,665 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #3 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Improvisation
  • #15 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > General Modern
  • #15 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Keyboard > Piano

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C Major

2. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C Major

3. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor

4. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor

5. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C-sharp

6. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C-sharp

7. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in C-sharp

8. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in C-sharp

9. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D Major

10. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D Major

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F-shar

2. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F-shar

3. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 14 in F-shar

4. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 14 in F-shar

5. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in G Majo

6. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in G Majo

7. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in G mino

8. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in G mino

9. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in A-flat

10. The Well-Tempered Clavier (24), collection of preludes & fugues, Book I, BWV 846-869 (BC L80-103): Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in A-flat

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gould's special interpretation WTC Book 1; Bk 2 even better, March 25, 2000

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (Audio CD)

Glenn Gould's playing prompted the great George Szell to say, "That nut is a genius." Gould is indeed a controversial pianist. While he was responsible for resurgence in interest in Bach (along with Roselyn Tureck and some others), Gould's playing arouses tremendous passion both pro and con. For a while I subscribed to a use-list on Bach; the members argued so much about Gould that the web master had to intervene, and when that did not work she pulled the plug on the entire site.

Readers should know that I like Glenn Gould. His are not the only worthy interpretations of Bach, but they are indispensable if one is to get a broad and rounded picture of how this greatest of all composers is to be understood.

Gould learned Book One of the WTC from his mother. After he recorded it for Columbia (now Sony) he hardly ever played a selection from Book One again. On the other hand he made numerous recordings of various preludes and fugues from Book Two, both before and after his Columbia complete recording.

His interpretations are certainly unique. Comparing him with other great pianists you will find that he takes tempos that are slower or faster than more conventional versions. This drives some listeners crazy. For my taste I tend to prefer more individualistic performances, and therefore like Gould more than Schiff for example.

Other worthy interpretations of WTC are of course Edwin Fischer on EMI, Richter on Le Chant du Monde, and Schiff on Decca/London for comparison. Recordings of various individual preludes and fugues by Tureck are nearly always worthwhile.

The preludes and fugues of Book Two are a bit darker and more spiritual than those of Book One, and thus suited Gould's temperament more closely. But for beginners I will concede that it takes several listenings to fully get into the WTC, or "forty-eight", as they are also known. Still, like the Goldberg Variations and The Art of Fugue, they are more than worth the effort.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As spiritual a recording of this music as you will ever find, November 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (Audio CD)

It is rare for an artist to so totally inhabit a work as Gould does the WTC, Books 1 & 2. Particularly striking and moving is the singing quality Gould gives many of the preludes, reminding one of Bach's B minor mass rather than harpsichord performances of the same pieces.

The fugues are also remarkable for their clarity of line and the way Gould seems to effortlessly develop whatever it is that intrigues him in a given fugue. You can hear the joy in his playing as he plays a line which falls silent and then proceeds to work his way through a fugue's complexities toward the line's rebirth.

Although Gould critics often scoff at perceived idiosyncracies in his playing, I have difficulty believing that Bach - the master improviser - would not have approved of Gould's approach. The sprituality that one hears in Bach's cello and vocal works - a spirituality present, but to a lesser degree, in his keyboard works performed on harpsichord - is fully present in these piano performances.

55 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for Bach beginners--fair enough?, February 6, 2001

By 

The Sanity Inspector (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Glenn Gould Edition - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (Audio CD)

Someone who is already familiar with the WTCs, or who loves Glenn Gould, or both, would be the best audience for this performance. From the very first bars, with the flowing ascending theme played partly in a counter-intuitive staccato, the in-the-know listener can tell that this will be a highly idiosyncratic rendering. Sure enough, Gould willfully takes some pieces at half-speed, presumably to display the "inner structure", while others are played very fast, near the notes-per-second barrier.

It may well be true that Gould understood Bach better than any other pianist--his unexpected insights are certainly plentiful enough, however convincing they may or may not be. And Bach seems never to have been very specific about how he wanted his music played. However, a newcomer to this work would do well to begin with a more conventional reading. In the wrong hands the WTC's can be as dull as someone reciting the multiplication tables. Yet Gould's version, though faultless in execution and brimming with ideas, is just too distinctive, shall we say, to recommend as this work's bible performance.