Bach: WTC1 No. 22 in b flat minor BWV 867 (Richter)

[anzioa]

The stretto with the inverted theme in the very first line is so delicious to my ears. 

[ThePoliticalMusician]

I really like this.

[Aza1408]

Hello. Thank you for your upload.

I always believed the theme in the fugue has just two bars (without the C/D/E/F in the first one). Could you please tell me why did you consider the theme being 3 bars long? I'm just learning the piece and I am really interested by this matter. Thanks.

[concertviolinist]

I am delighted by this recording (Mr Sviatoslav Richter is one of my favourite Concert Pianists) which I've heard numerous times over the last year or more before writing this comment today Monday 28 February 2011;

I was also delighted with how well my beloved Sister played it when I requested her to play it for me in April last year - she did it without any notice & without any rehearsal and the standard was very high!

[MarkHeller13]

I love Richter, but for me this is played slightly too quickly, and so lacks some of the intense emotion of other performances (for example Joanna Macgregor's version here on YouTube, which is sublime...)

[Sofoclaudio]

Thank you Bach, thank you Germany... über alles in der Welt!

[AliceYulia]

Richter is a amazing and I know my place but a very tiny detail for everyone studying this piece, watch out for the D natural at 5:38, just in case if you listen to this a lot and memorize it as a D flat. Just in case :)

[Ant2101]

Talk about saving the best til last ;) Loving the end of the fugue

[morvensky]

Rushed and emotionless

[musiccritic1910]

@morvensky

It shall to the barber's, with your beard, You're for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or you sleep.

[LisztBusoni]

Lo stò studiando!

L'interpretazione di Richter è favolosa, è difficilissimo rendere così questo brano.

Complimenti.

[npelletier89]

Thank you for this!! I'm playing this in less than 12 hours for a jury!! I'm sick of listening to myself play it :P

[zoranrosendahl]

i love this WtC very much.

Bach did really show the art of the fuga!

[Gundanium187]

Simply Beautiful. Cool, slow and strong like a winter wind, yet magnificently clear and crisp. I could listen to this over and over again. Fantastic piece.

[blessedangel07]

simply amazing!

[Tokkemon]

I like this one a bit slower, almost like a dirge with the 8th as the beat. Really bring out those 9-8 suspensions.

[shopindani]

just briliant..bravo sviatoslav!! makes me cray..l think the best recording..

[liyujelian]

it sounds so easy and slow, but it's so hard to play! D;

[gonrolgonrol]

@liyujelian Indeed! It is necessary to be very sensitive in the fingers to be able to make the voices clear and distinct.

[dom0s]

@liyujelian I just took one look at the key signature and went back to prelude no. 1

[MrHicks091]

@dom0s not that prelude no 1 is *easy* ;)!

[AlfaAxel]

Serene!

[nimrodmetal]

For me, the most beautiful piece of J.S. Bach

[skryabyn]

and i do indeed appreciate what looks like your devotion to learning and presenting peices

[skryabyn]

now i might sound like the arrogant one, which i am at times, BachScholar. I am just flustered.

[skryabyn]

OH MY GOD I CAN NOT BELEIVE THIS STILL. From bach scholar

more like

BS

I am really not an arrogant person (as it may seem), but I put great effort and thought into my playing and I truly believe my playing of this and many other preludes and fugues are better than Richter's.

[familymio]

im learning this, just started this today!!

[BachScholar]

because he uses virtually no ritards at important cadence points. Second, the prelude is too fast. Third, the fugue has absolutely no differentiation among the voices. Also, it is too slow and it is note-note-note etc. This is the epitome of mechanical playing. I find much of Richter's Bach to be very mechanical, even much more so than people accuse my Bach of being. You want "romantic" Bach, but this certainly is very far from being romantic. Listen to mine and compare.

[warriorfortruth]

"Better" is a normative statement and you cannot win a debate or argument using it. I happen to love this interpretation, and whether you like it or not is completely irrelevant to the music itself. I am pretty sure that Bach would not freak out having someone put a ritard in 300 years after he wrote it. Chill dude. You give musicians a bad name.

[BachScholar]

warriorfortruth: I was actually saying that Richter does *not* use ritards at cadential points and I think it would have been better if he had done so. I was also responding to Pianoplayer, who used Richter as an example of "romantic" Bach playing, which he is not.

[warriorfortruth]

Aight, so we aren't arguing. Cool. I retract my statement about you giving musicians a bad name. Peace dude, happy playing.

[skryabyn]

Not to sound mean, but seriously you CAN hear every single voice if you want. The magic in R's Bach is that he doesnt ostentatiously display the voice with the theme, but rather creates a harmonic blend in which the listener can either float or pick out individual voices to enjoy. Just don't please compare yourself to Richter- I dont think it is healthy for the ego, but certainly aspire to be of his depth and ingenuity, of course. Sorry if i sound mean, but seriously, this is Richter here.

[BachScholar]

I said I really like Richter's Schumann and many other romantic composers, but his Bach (at least the WTC) is not very good. It's cold.

[Marsmallos]

lol well said, this "BachScholar" is the last person I'd want comparing himself to Richter, check out his Bach videos for gods sake. Square as a cube

[skryabyn]

And he has the gall to cal Richter's Bach COLD! words for himself, i should think, marsmallos, dont you?

[Marsmallos]

wooden and cold like a dried up forest in siberia on a winter's morning

[Tokkemon]

Is that necessarily a bad thing?

[BachScholar]

Hi Pianoplayer: I thought I would visit your channel and listen to some Richter playing the WTC, although I am already very familiar with his playing of Bach. I couldn't find the C# minor so I chose this pair, since it is one of the most expressive. I am really not an arrogant person (as it may seem), but I put great effort and thought into my playing and I truly believe my playing of this and many other preludes and fugues are better than Richter's. First, his prelude does not breathe (cont)

[Webrider101]

I dont understand whats so amazing about 6:06 Can someone please explain? It sounds normal

[kcostell]

Take a look at the spacing between the entrances of different subjects. For most of the fugue so far, they've been fairly well spread out (2-5 measures apart), but then they start coming closer together. At about 5 minutes in you hear two voices only half a measure apart from each other.

Then at 6:06 all the voices start coming in (comparatively) almost at once. And somehow it turns out that those five offset themes fit perfectly together, up to the same note fitting in multiple voices.

[Webrider101]

Still not 100% sure but that's just because I'm not very good at this stuff =P

Thanks buddy

[kepler101]

6:06 is musical science!

[jiejingz]

did the bach use stretto in the exposition?

[Pianoplayer002]

Indeed he did!

[davymc91]

Love the prelude. One of Bach's nicest melodies.

[MagicDonDino]

That's very carzy around 6:06!!! O_o