Well Tempered Clavier, Part 1 [Original recording remastered, Import]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Artist), Ralph Kirkpatrick (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 13, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: Archiv Prod Import
• ASIN: B00004R7WZ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,214 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #54 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Improvisation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful, July 4, 2002

By 

Matthew D Kerr (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Well Tempered Clavier, Part 1 (Audio CD)

I own a few really outstanding recordings of this: among them richter, wanda landowska, friedrich gulda, gould. This is now my favorite. It may actually be more expressive and nuanced than all of the above (with the exception of gulda), while being less mannered. You can hear everything; the clavichord makes it all transparent. This is an incandescent recording.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Part I of Kirkpatrick's Great Clavichord Performance of Bach, September 3, 2002

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Well Tempered Clavier, Part 1 (Audio CD)

I've waited a long time to find the first half of Kirkpatrick's Clavichord performance of J. S. Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier"; it was surely well worth waiting. Kirkpatrick offers lively, emotionally stirring performances on the clavichord, opening with the familiar bars of the "Ave Maria" in the first brief piece. I concur with a previous reviewer who remaked that this is an incandescent recording. I think it is now my favorite keyboard performance of Bach's music, easily surpassing any I've heard from the likes of Gould or Perahia. The sound quality is exceptional for these vintage recordings, some of which are over forty years old.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wore out the grooves on my Archiv copy, June 30, 2003

By 

Werner "Troodon" (Lake Forest, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Well Tempered Clavier, Part 1 (Audio CD)

Kirkpatrick's performance stands apart from all the rest. I owned Archiv 33 1/3 copies of Teil 1 & 2 when at university, and his virtuosity helped me through many a tense night. I survived, but the vinyl eventually failed.

The unique sound of the Clavichord (clavier refers generally to all keyboard instruments) presents challenges in presentation which Ralph Kirkpatrick easily masters to create an unparalled sound experience. Bach would be proud.