Richter plays Bach: WTC1 No. 17 in A flat major BWV 862

[ingni123456]

Does anybody know of any beginners books on counterpoints/ further composing?

[ivanoschen]

This is so great.

[RemovdSande11]

wow I know for sure that this fugue will become of my upcoming favourites ^^

[mtv565]

I LOVE this slow, legato, sonorous and romantic approach to the fugue!

[jyoo21]

fugue: nicely played.

prelude: not so much.

[NimbleTurtle13]

@jyoo21 I actually enjoy this rendition of the prelude actually. Straightforward and simple. His touch is a bit strong sometimes but he makes it the prelude move like no others.

[MagicDolphinGO]

i've grown so used to gould's hammering style that i'd forgotten how gentle this music can be

[SC2larry]

Was this recorded from a live performance?

[diego8700]

@xaber101 thanks a lot :)

[Isospinsymmetries]

I prefer Glenn Gould playing this.

[yulkatx]

It was a very nice detail the scores you put in the video as the music plays. Thank you

[v9v2]

he plays the fugue in a magnificient way ..

[diego8700]

Is the texture here "counterpoint" ??

[xaber101]

@diego8700 You'd probably describe it as largely imitative or contrapuntal - the word counterpoint is a bit of a beast and can mean many things, like "species counterpoint" or "strict counterpoint", of which this is neither... does that help??

[hoodloom22]

Richter is the greatest classical pianist of the 20th century hands down please! No one had his combination of depth, technique, and not to mention he had a HUGE reportoire and was an excellent sight reader. This prelude is awesome btw.

[fdsaman123]

Damn. The piano in these Richter/Bach recordings is not to A-440Hz. Why is that? Maybe the recording has altered the pitch?

[subtlebond]

well thank you for your post...

but I feel it a bit too soft.. I am not a musician, sorry for saying this, BUT of course I like it

[Enix5548]

I wish the beat was like 5 bpm was slower. Then it would be perfect.

[heinzgilbert]

GOOD GRACIOUS the fugue!!!! Themes perfectly coming out like magic.

[grThetrojan01gr]

I'm so impressed about how clear the Theme is heared in some extra-difficult spots!

[wowzies99]

OMG I LOVE the first piece just wish I could play it on classical guitar : (

[letsgetslive]

@wowzies99 There is a slightly easier version of the prelude, which is strictly a two part invention - not included in the famous Two Part Inventions.

[pianololita]

This is probably the correct speed but personally I prefer the Prelude slower (and you can go slightly more detached on the quavers too that way so the Prelude becomes bouncier and lighter), and the Fugue faster.

[Enix5548]

I think the prelude is at the right speed though the piano prevents some of the important notes to come out. Wow Richter is especially great with this piece.

[iguarni]

Sviatoslav, we miss you so much!!!!

[117mathieu]

what do you feel when you play or listen this piece?? i ask this question because i must play it for a test....thanks!!!

[brianpht]

Prelude: It's very lively piece and it's a good reference for me to prepare this piece for ATCL. But i think it can be a bit slower.

Fugue: very legato.

Overall: i love this piece of music

[kongkiakeng]

fugue so hard!!!

very confuse on finger walk@@

[nathanplayspiano]

However they recorded the fugue, they did an amazing job. The marcato subject and answers sound almost like a chorale. Jealous! The upright in my apartment just doesn't cut it

[3NUNS]

@nathanplayspiano : Oh diddums !

[nocturne217]

wow!! i like this fugue!! it's so beautiful!! :)

[dreamscapeGan]

Yes this is a lovely piece of prelude and fugue. It was my Grade 8 ABRSM piece, and i love to play it every now and then. However, i do think that the prelude if abit too fast, and the fugus is too slow..

[kongkiakeng]

lol

this 1 is player's own tempo

you that tempo is ABRSM setting 1

[flicfan416]

this fugue is so difficult. the fingering makes me want to cry!

[ocwhanappi]

try singing the interioer voices

[san2matrix]

although i assume its a professional playing .. but i think the prelude is spoilt with the speed.. this piece was made to play slowly , thus the theme in the prelude wasnt expressed with clarity..as a student who studies music and its history, bachs pieces are supposed to be played slow , with the theme being expressed most importantly.

[wcbroccoli]

How do you know "this piece was made to play slowly"?

Is sounds fine to me at this tempo.

Where do you get the idea that "bachs pieces are supposed to be played slow"?

According to his sons, he liked to play fast. LOL

[NewDawnFades608]

do you actually dare to question Richter's playing? he's the music expert, so leave it to him to decide how to interpret music.

[NewDawnFades608]

oh, sorry, i didn't mean to reply to you. i meant to address the poster before you.

[wcbroccoli]

Actually, the only thing I said about Richter's playing in this channel was "it sounds fine to me at this tempo."

[xxh3llfir3xx]

yeah, and richter for sure didn't study music at all, huh?

[pianojeans]

I just love ALL of these - Please try and complete the whole set VERY SOON - And thanks for all the very hard work you have put in to make these truly magical pieces become even more entertaining.

[Risewithfallen21]

i fuckin hate playing this peice, i felt like i was putting so much effort into it all for something that in the end, i didn't like playing or hearing. FUCK!!!

[hornuser]

Fugue starts at 1:11.

[AsSomedayItMayHappen]

Oh, and speaking of the fugue, is there a reason why Bach didn't end the piece at bar 33? It shifts into F-minor (very unconventional) before once again cycling through A-flat, B-flat, E-flat, and then back to A-flat again. Is there a reason for this, or is it just Bach being Bach?

[hornuser]

My vote is Bach being Bach. Very cool deceptive cadence find!

[smalin]

Yes, this it definitely Bach being Bach. If you look at the A-flat major fugue in the second book, you'll see it does a similar thing --- and an earlier version of the same fugue (in F major) stops at the first point. So he definitely decided it needed another trip around the block before parking the car for good.

[wcbroccoli]

This is not unsual for Bach or his contemporaries.

It's called a deceptive cadence. Your ear expected to hear the dominant resolve to the tonic (A-flat) but got the relative minor (F-minor) instead.

This is a device composers use to add harmonic interest by postponing the expected cadence.

Here Bach uses a deceptive cadence as a bridge between the previous F-minorish sequential episode and a coda that reprises the subject in the tonic key.

[AsSomedayItMayHappen]

Actually, in the WTK 1+2, this specific pattern only occurs twice. Once in one of the later pieces in book two, and this one here (as smalin already confirmed). There are an abundance of dominant-seventh cadences used to this effect, but the relative minor ones are rare. That's why it caught my ear.

[wcbroccoli]

I suspect there are many more V-VI cadences than the 2 you identified. They might be obscured by voice movement or passing tones.

Working from beginning of WTC 1&2 I already find several more examples:

WTC1: C# major fugue m53; C# minor prelude m38; C# minor fugue m10; D major fugue, m13; E-flat fugue m35; E major fugue m10, m23; F# major fugue m6

WTC2: C major fugue m68

Art of Fugue: 2-subject fugue #9, 2nd subject enters in treble on VI.

[brianmcbisk]

where exactly is the deceptive cadence?? it's not at the end of the Prelude nor Fugue, I listened to it twice but can't find it. can you please pin point the time? thank you!

[ocwhanappi]

in German : "Trugschluß". terminus technbicus

[shivdas99]

such a great fugue. kind of like mozart's work, very bubbley and joyous. richter is clearly enjoying playing it, its very uplifitng. bach's well temepered clavier is rest assurred the finest

[wolfinhovienna]

its not a fugue :)

[AsSomedayItMayHappen]

The second part is...

[kevalkeval1993]

it's really interesting how we all think differently about the speed of the fugue. Some say he plays it too slow, and others say its too fast. I think this is a goood speed, although I play it just a little slower. I don't think it should be any faster if anything. The fugues tend to be much slower than the preludes to let the contrapuntal effect have more space. If it's tgoo fast, you lose the sense of the piece growing and you don't hear the voices as clearly. But, thats just my opinion.

[sumire666621]

Is this play by Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter? I am willing to by his CD now.

[dluu13]

omg i can never bring out the theme at 1:54

[kevalkeval1993]

omg I know exactly how u feel. I dont understnad how he does it! Although, I feel that he sometimes brings the theme out a little bit too much for my liking. It almost sounds forced if u know what i mean. He plays the prelude very well though!

[alanchan1024]

I tried that with some success. You can have a look at my video on this piece.

[cluu1]

I can actually get it now, after a bit of concentrating on that part. I'm just too lazy :P

[dluu13]

woops posted with the wrong account, but nice video as well

[hkrickywu]

i meant the CD for the grade 8 music book...

[hkrickywu]

for some reason i like the offical cd version better... suppose this is another style...

[Pianoplayer002]

"official cd version?" Care to explain what you mean? ;)

[MusicPredominates]

@Pianoplayer002 : Vetted by the KGB  !

[cumulus0007]

@hkrickywu yeah, as if Bach released an official cd...

[nonamepoeple123]

The subject of left hand in the prelude is not clear enough, i think.

But for Fugue, the subject is "terribly" clear. It is difficult to imagine how to play on this way.

[cinzhe]

wow...this is pretty fast...but it's really good.

[bridgetooi]

the entrance of the subject was brilliantly projected. amazing indeed.a couple of the subjects in the alto and tenor sounded like they were being played by one hand, they were clearly connected and the legato touch was excellent.

[terryregnar]

Fugue is slow.. but SO CLEAR

[TheTool2]

I don't think it's too slow, it's moderato. Anywayz, it's truly amazing!

[mcren1874]

It's a bit too fast...although he can control it.

[FREEASTHESTARS]

What a nice piece! Very lively and energetic.

[danmccolm135]

Doesn't sound like A-flat :o sounds like A major.

[johnalt16]

Yeah it's slightly sharper for some reason

I personally like it better like this :)

[angelagracewaters]

thanks! i'm playing this piece - nice to hear another version

[dana1108]

who played this?

[Pianoplayer002]

uuuum it says so in the title, but I can give you a hint; Sviatoslav Richter... Does that ring a bell? ;)

[mal8739]

Thank you once again. You should know how appreciative we are that you do this.