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Bach: Keyboard Works

post #1 of 298
2/14/05 at 12:35am
Thread Starter 
I only own the Gould recording of the Goldberg Variations. I love this recording but I know it is a bit controversial. I would love to add some recordings of solo keyboard works to my collection and would love to hear your thoughts.

dshea
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post #2 of 298
2/14/05 at 4:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dshea_32665
I only own the Gould recording of the Goldberg Variations. I love this recording but I know it is a bit controversial. I would love to add some recordings of solo keyboard works to my collection and would love to hear your thoughts.

dshea
Go for Wanda Landowska on harpsichord or Rosalyn Tureck on piano for any and all Bach keyboard music. Sviatoslav Richter also did The Well Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations. I have Peter Serkin doing the Goldberg Variations which I think beats Gould (and I have both of his recordings), but that is a matter of taste. Andras Schiff has done them as has Alexis Weissenberg and also Murray Perahia, all of whom do a terrific job. Btw, if your recording is the early Gould with the insanely fast tempo, to me it is like Bach on crank! similarly, most of my friends don't care for the Serkin. there is so much Klavier music by Bach, and it has been done by so many artists, that I can see this thread dwarfing the Mahler thread.
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post #3 of 298
2/14/05 at 1:37pm
I've heard dozens of artists doing bach keyboard works, but the one I keep coming back to again and again is Angela Hewitt. She seems a bit "cold" at first, but soon you come to really love her cyrstaline clarity and supreme feel for the architecture of each piece. All of her discs are desert island music for me.
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post #4 of 298
2/14/05 at 9:33pm
Thread Starter 
I have managed to check out some Rosalyn Tureck from our library. I am listening to some of the Partitas right now. Wonderful playing. The independance of lines are beautifully shaped. It sounds so easy and effortless.

Wow what a different experience than listening to my new Klemperer Bruckner 4 recording.

I will have to get some Angela Hewitt as well. Thanks all for giving me some names to start with.

dshea
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post #5 of 298
2/14/05 at 11:34pm
I love Rosalyn Tureck's work because it is always so lucid and clear. Sometimes I think she is actually chanelling Bach. If you can, try and get a copy of her well tempered clavier too.
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post #6 of 298
2/15/05 at 1:42am
Thread Starter 
Tyson, if I were to buy a CD of Angela Hewitt, which should I buy first?

dshea
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post #7 of 298
2/15/05 at 10:40pm
I'd go with the English Suites or the French Suites. Her Goldbergs are also quite excellent, but it's common enough of a piece that you will probably already have an excellent recording (no need to duplicate, unless you are an insane bach collector like I can be!)
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post #8 of 298
2/19/05 at 9:09pm
Thread Starter 
Tyson, just won Hewitt's English Suites on Ebay for $17.00. I look forward to getting them and will report back. Thanks for the recommendation.

Cheers,
dshea
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post #9 of 298
2/19/05 at 9:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyson
I've heard dozens of artists doing bach keyboard works, but the one I keep coming back to again and again is Angela Hewitt. She seems a bit "cold" at first, but soon you come to really love her cyrstaline clarity and supreme feel for the architecture of each piece. All of her discs are desert island music for me.
Tyson, great recommendation. I own a great deal of her recordings. You have a great taste when it comes to classical music.
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post #10 of 298
2/20/05 at 4:51pm
Bach? On the piano?

On a fortepiano, maybe.

Bach, on a modern iron-framed piano, is just... no. I can't stand it. The seperate voices get tangled and muddled in the modern piano's super-loud super-sustained mass of overtones. You can't hear a thing.
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post #11 of 298
2/20/05 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cynicalkane
Bach? On the piano?

On a fortepiano, maybe.

Bach, on a modern iron-framed piano, is just... no. I can't stand it. The seperate voices get tangled and muddled in the modern piano's super-loud super-sustained mass of overtones. You can't hear a thing.
Try listening to some recordings by Rosalyn Tureck.
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post #12 of 298
2/20/05 at 7:01pm
Does anyone have any information about the harpsichordist Robert Wooley or the Purcell quartet?

Also looking for information on the Seattle Baroque Orchestra.
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post #13 of 298
2/21/05 at 9:41pm
I am in buy mode for Bach keyboard works..................

I currently have a mixture of artists for all main works using both piano and Harpsicord by:
Hewitt, Pinnock, Nickolayeva, Gilbert, Roberts, Hantai, Rousset

There was an obvious glaring artist omission so today I corrected that situation by buying used versions of:







Gould/Sony - Goldberg Variations, French Suites, WTC Book II

(I have gone full circle, ball now back in Dsheas court with his original post)
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post #14 of 298
2/21/05 at 11:18pm
No Landowska or Tureck? Although the audio quality of Wanda's recordings is not the greatest (she died in 1959), they are the benchmark for everything else that has come afterwards in the performance of Baroque music. Also, Rosalyn Tureck, frequently called the high priestess of Bach, is someone whose recordings should not be omitted in any collection of baroque keyboard works. I guess it's something else to purchase!

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post #15 of 298
2/21/05 at 11:56pm
Make sure to get Fischer's Well Tempered Clavier. This is one of my most loved recordings. I think the EMI transfer is better than Naxos, but haven't heard the Naxos.
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