Bach Preludes and Fugues Fischer Rec. 1933-35

[Irshkboy]

There was alot of awesome Bach players before Gould. Gould brought Bach to the mainstream, much like Elvis did for bringing black music to the masses.

[armpiano]

I'm not very fan of moderne pianists playing Bach, but I think Edwin Fischer is really good in this repertoire. But again my favourite versions remain harpsychordists'.

[Beckmesser2]

Thank you for your comments. I would appreciate you posting an example of a pianist playing this D major prelude and fugue who you feel performs it according to historically informed Baroque performance practice. I would be glad to post the recording if you will name the pianist.

[Xenogfan43]

you realize the prelude is slower than gould plays it (and gould's sounds absolutely fantastic), and the fugue is metronome-rigid, it isn't even a tiny bit sloppy.

tempo conventions mean nothing, what sounds good sounds good and that's all that matters.

[dinulipatti1950]

i think that ralkramralkram is right is both in both things that he wants. the tempo of the prelude is too fast, there is no real musical sense to play it in such a tempo, there are too much details in it for playing that fastly. and the fugue has the style of a french ouverture, so the rhythm of the theme has to be played twice as sharp as written in the score. that's what he meant with sloppy, i guess.

[Xenogfan43]

perhaps because bach is more mathematical, and very un-romantic, the tempo isn't nearly as important.

if you take any bach fugue and slow it down dramatically, it still sounds good (not as good as up to speed, but not torturous like beethoven and chopin would be).

gould plays the D major prelude and fugue better than fischer, as well as the first C major prelude, which he plays much slower than most.

it all sounds fantastic because he's gould, tempo doesn't hold him back.

[RabidCh]

The difference is in the "great artist"; there's much more to piano playing than just the tempo.

[RabidCh]

I never said the tempo is not important at all. Stop putting words where they aren't.

[davus0]

the only way to demonstrate a tempo to be ideal would be to play the ideal interpretation at that tempo. this has never been done. please renounce your pedantry. music is deeper than your understanding.

[4nna8elle]

hi xenogfan43.. do u hv this one played by gould? pls upload so i may compare.. would love to hear any bach's from gould. thks

[crybanshee]

Before critisizing, I think we should adapt the interpretations to a certain time context. Edwin Fischer lived in a time where the interpretations of Bach were romantized.

Nonetheless, Edwin Fischer was a great master with a level of wisdom we can only dream to achieve.

And as far as I'm concerned, The Well-Tempered Klavier is a set of Preludes and Fugues that Bach composed for pedagogical purposes. I see no interest in playing the prelude slowly, as it was an "etude".

[hymntonight]

If in fact the WTK is but a series of etudes (I don't think so, but whatever), don't forget that a slow etude can be just as difficult to master as a fast one. -Virtuosity does not lie only in agility.

[jghancockjr]

Yes, and this sounds very good, indeed!

[gatesofdelirium]

This sounds really nice... I bet this is how Chopin would've played Bach :D

[theMMaI]

you officially made my day ;)

Chopin would just have used a harpsichord and find someone with hella fast fingers to play it, then do it like a marathon, ready-set-go!

[Ankhsnammon]

Bach ètait le dieu de la musique pour -chopin..Et le grand Edwin fischer..un poète du piano...ètait l'amanyçt de ma maîtresse de danse et de vie...Mme. isadora duncan..la reine..la dèesse!!!!

Pour vous...

nina