Richter plays Bach: WTC1 No. 14 in f sharp minor BWV 859

[largolegato]

The prelude is the inspiration of Chopin's etude op.10 no.4

[loinfinitoazul]

que se vayan a la verga!! Bach es propiedad intelectual del universo entero, que no me chinguen con sus mamadas de que no se puede escuchar en listas de reproducción!! Pendejos, seguro el putín al que se le ocurrió esa mierda nunca ha pretendido escuchar a Bach realmente, ojete y pendejo aparte... Lo peor de todo es que sólo lo hacen por varo... Putos, culeros e hijos de la chingada...

[mtv565]

The prelude is average, it's the fugue that is great, beautiful, evoking painful memories!

[bornawildchild]

this is great but does anyone think that the prelude should be played slower?

[alaric415]

wonderful, thanks for posting!

[mariospetros]

I too think that the fugue needed a bit faster tempo but you cannot say it is not good. In fact it is really good. And Glenn Gould plays bach like it is romantic. It might sound good but it isn't what bach wrote. It is unrealistic and wrong.. But he is glenn Gould. You need to firstly listen to richter and then glenn gould for something more innovative. In other word Richter is the real deal in Bach

[MrPeriodc]

@TyandMike IMSLP has all the scores you'll ever need.

[TyandMike]

i know the music is right here but can someone show me to where i can print it for free? :D

[visionfugitiva]

a little too fast for me (the prelude) even if it is a toccatta style piece, and the fugue a little too slow to me je je! but he was a genius, I love his Scriabin and all the romantics...but bach...I prefer Glenn Gould...

[pierchopin]

this is WTC2 ! not WTC1

[morvensky]

I find the fugue a little boring but I won't criticize the piece. Very good but not my favorite.

[Toccata123]

I agree, I find the prelude here to be very exciting!

[Hardwyck]

Shurely F natural at 3:17/18?

[Pianoplayer002]

Well spotted. Although the score says E natural, Richter seems to be playing an E sharp (that, of course, sounds like an F natural).

[Hardwyck]

Yes of course, you're right (just took another look at the score).

[dmcII]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Richter realized after many years that he'd been playing and F when the score called for F# (can't be sure if it was this piece). He went to the trouble of printing a correction & apology in the liner notes on future recordings of the piece. Such a perfectionist he was !

[moneyjr1122]

@Pianoplayer002 thats very interesting 

[Hansjovis1]

@Hardwyck In some editions, E sharp is printed. And that really does make sense, because the next chord is an F-chord, tonica in the new key.

[DeathByMoshPit666]

the first 50 seconds or so are ORGASMIC. I don't think I've ever liked a bach piece this much.

[geheimnisvolle]

you remind me of a book...Joseph kermer about the WTC, in the chapter about the fugue in c# minor, book I

[Markohoppis]

Chopin's Etude in C# minor reminds me of this prelude.

[hornuser]

Fugue starts at 0:52.

[Iaparulava]

I love this fuge there is somuch maditation insde if only one can find the right key to open it and Richters has done that for us God Bless his soul

[tarquin161234]

I'm a musical newbie. please tell me why you have to "find the right key". Surely it's written on the original score?

[Ludynosa]

i think he meant it metaphorically, but im not sure!

[ragtimemarkbirnbaum]

mathematics for the soul - geometry that sings -

BACH

thx

[highlandsh]

The fugues seem so mathematical, so mechanical but just try looking at the first 10 measures and predict from that what is in the 11th. Can you figure out Bach? You might find that more interesting.

[evaniax]

That's the definition of a fugue.

The composer has a central theme and then repeats that theme in different voices (often transposed). Themes playing in different voices are generally offset from each other to create a contrapunctal texture.

This piece is actually an example of a double fugue. Bach starts with one theme, has an exposition of another (msr 8) and then has the two play at once.

[highlandsh]

Apparently you were under the mistaken impression that I was requesting a definition of fugue. What you say is available in any text book on the baroque. What I was saying was that, even armed with a definition you still cannot predict exactly what Bach would say next. That is his genius. He was not composing with a computer but with his ear.

[oabrahamsson]

@highlandsh: As a Bach scholar I have to disagree; You can many times predict what Bach will do next within a composition. In fact, that´s what he himself allegedly amused himself with while listening to the organist during church sermons. Of course, there is always room for some aesthetical choices, but in general Bach followed his own 'rules' quite strictly.

Or perhaps you mean that you can´t predict _exactly_ what he is about to do; in that case you´re right.

But it is truly great music!

[geheimnisvolle]

i only saw a theme... that one you called theme, is actually a second contertheme (in the alto voice), as Ledbetter and Kermer said in their books about the WTC.

[ibonykeys]

the fugue is boring

[Fagleboo]

Seconded

[kaiserkill]

what's boring, the playing or the fugue itself? this fugue is probably the best thing a human mind has invented..

[alayeldin]

i'm a great fan of bach ,i appreciate the majority of his music,but i DON'T like his fugues.

ibonykeys,Fagleboo you're not alone.

[wouterpathetique]

omg

[Hardwyck]

You can't seriously call yourself a great fan of Bach then. It's like saying I'm a great fan of Palestrina but I don't like countrapuntal music.

[Hardwyck]

(Sorry CONTRAPUNTAL music)

[PapaLeonesPizza]

this is one of the silliest comments ever made on the whole of youtube

[sailingforde04]

You moron , if you dont like Bachs fugues , you cannot me consider yourself a fan of bach ,

[alayeldin]

it's immature to insult a human being who didn't offend you,if you were really touched by bach's music ,you wouldn't have been such a rude person.

i find the preludes of wtc very emotional and full of life,i just don't get this feeling when i hear the majority of his fugues.

bach didn't compose fugues only,he also made concerti,sonatas,suites,orator­ios & cantatas.

it's a matter of taste,you shouldn't like every thing you hear just because it was made by bach.

[maslina10]

@kaiserkill I don't find Richter's interpretation of the fugue boring at all. Perhaps, after the avid prelude, one might expect a faster fugue. However, the fugue, to me, has so much potential (both polyphonic and phraseological) that I don't think Richter could have realized all of its details with a faster tempo.

[AnnMarry19]

If you can not play or if you don"t good pianist you write that this fugue is boring. But if you can play you should write: I can play this fugue very interesting ;)

[adrianmcccxxxiv]

This fugue is absolutely genius!

[hansmeyer111]

To ibonykeys:

Well, this is your opinion.

My opinion: this fugue is a masterpiece, played from a giant interpreter.