Bach: WTC1 No. 4 in c sharp minor BWV 849 (Richter)

[edwolf1127n]

This is a very "condemned" video. =p

[russmassey615]

This video went viral on Moroni

[LifeforArt]

Why didn't wrote Bach a P&F in WTC for D-flat-major? I know, there is one in C-sharp-major (7 crosses!). 7# are the same as 5b.

[rfmenyi]

7:35 3 subjects in 1 hand...

[MusicPredominates]

... it was said by Landowska that the prelude is a courante without the upbeat ! ... Now. I am glad that I listened to this. The way ; the tempo of the fugue ... well this is the way to play it. Those that rush are naiave.

[MusicPredominates]

... it was said by Landowska that the prelude is a courante without the upbeat !

[yumeybaconcutout]

in my opinion, this is one of the most magnificent fugues ever written. i feel it throughout my entire body!

[awindscale]

@yumeybaconcutout yes i think it s one of the purest and deepest he has written and thx for posting it.

[MRTincho23ify]

maybe this analysis can be helpful:

ttp://jan.ucc.nau.edu/tas3/wtc­/i04.html#movie

home page:

ttp://jan.ucc.nau.edu/tas3/wtc­.html

[dragmio]

This is fantastic! Thank you, thank you, thank you...

[kamin02]

I noticed that you stopped adding the Bach WTC book 1 Richter pieces a year ago. It is a shame really, the series is nearly complete, only 7,8,23 and 24 are missing. I learned to love the WTC thanks to this series.

[xytor500]

Why does he not play some ornaments?

[JekyllBoote]

@xytor500

I'd hazard a guess that Richter thought that they aren't necessary on a modern concert grand. One of the functions of ornaments on instruments such as clavichords and harpsichords (which have very little sustaining power) is to sustain a particular principal pitch (in a notional rather than strictly literal sense).

[prutsman]

Wonderful.  Thanks for sharing

Bach is the greatest!

[anturi86]

The most passionate performance of this fugue ever! One gets the impession that he really suffers when the nails literaly enter the body of Christ in the upper voice.

Sublime!

[ShipsAreBurned]

@anturi86 is that what this was written? the crucifiction?

[seahyimin]

wow thanks for the coloured notes. especially those for the second subject, which are hard for me to pick out just by listening. now i can see how fluent bach was with fugue writing

[Mozeroscar]

thanks for uploading all this ;)

[gilbertoagostinho]

Hello Pianoplayer002, don't you think this is actually a triple fugue and not a double one as your analysis suggests? In my opnion, the descending notes in the upper voice at 5:04 has to be considerated as a theme. Bach waited 1/3 of the fugue to introduce it, and it surerly sounds like something new. Else, thank you for this video, it is very well done and instructive. Cheers.

[Pianoplayer002]

yes, I had a very hard time deciding if I should mark it or not. The video would be flooded with color but be more accurate, so at the time I made this video I decided against it. Now I'm not so sure if it was the right decision :P

I've wanted to do the eb minor fugue for a long time, but for this kind of reasons I've held it back. I still can't decide how to colour all the subjects/if I should exclude too elaborate rythmic variations/too short entries etc.

[gilbertoagostinho]

Hmm, I wouldn't exclude anything. I've made myself an analysis of this fugue for my counterpoint lesson, and for solving this problem I divided the score into 5 staves, one for each voice. Then it looks very much more clear and I could use three colours. If you have the program Sibelius I can send you this .sib file, this can help you with the eb minor fugue. Best regards.

[johnnylifelive]

@gilbertoagostinho

Don't think it's a fugue. Uses imitation, sure....even what feel like episodes have the subject....

[hashirimedes]

Richter is the number one pianist in the universe!!!!!!!!

[raven1234]

ooo, Thank you. This is one of my favorite piece from Bach. Richter's interpretation is really very different from Gould. I heard that this piece have something to do with the crucifixion of Christ, right?

[Pianoplayer002]

Yeah, it was tough to decide if I should include an analysis of that in the video. In the end, I decided against it. Too many colours you know... :P

But yeah, that is true, marks resembling Jesus' five wounds have been impressed on this fugue. This is one of only two fugues with five voices. Ever looked closely at the main subject? It is very short, in fact the shortest in WTC, and it consists of five notes.

[Pianoplayer002]

Listen to the upper voice at 6:51 and 8:33. It is a descending chromatic melody that conscists of, yes, five notes. In Bach's time, descending chromatic melodies in general were called "lamenti" by the Italians, this fugue is a lament.

It is not just a coincidence, lutherans in Bach's time associated five with the wounds on Jesus body, and Bach was a religious man.

[Pianoplayer002]

There is even more stuff, but I wont go into that since my knowledge is somewhat limited and I don't want to say stuff I am not sure about.

[Lukecash12]

Is it just me, or does he ignore several grace notes?

[mal8739]

The score you see and the score he used might not be the same. The amount of variance between editions is really quite amazing.

[georgecziffra]

The version I have doesn't even have any of those grace notes.

[LikuX]

Somber, but beautiful.