Tonebase Bach Stage

Katrina Wei Dear Katrina these are very beautiful performances of both the Prelude and the Fugue.  The Fugue is certainly among the more difficult and complex ones in the entire 48, where the subject appears recto, then inversio, then in augmentation, and then sometimes all at the same time!  I could hear every voice very clearly, and having played this one myself, I know how very difficult it is to bring the voices out clearly and independently. You do great justice to the seriousness and profundity of these pieces.

The only advice I can think of to give is:  onward to polishing the next one on your list!

P.S. I'm working on this very same goal -- to get through the entire WTC.  It's proceeding slowly for me, but I'm chipping away at it, pair by pair.  I have 14 to go, and at that point I will have worked out the fingering and played through every one of them. But bringing one to performance level is a very different story; each one can take months. It's truly a lifelong journey. Congratulations on hitting your milestone, and keep up the good work.

Peter Golemme thank you so much for the kind words Peter! And I absolutely love your performance of the P&F of F-sharp minor of book II (also one of my favourites)! I agree that this is one of the most difficult Fugue to play and I also find it quite challenging to keep a steady rhythm especially when playing slowly… 

I have also been hooked on the Partitas lately (quite a distraction from the WTC haha) and find these to be some of the most exquisite and beautiful pieces of Bach, especially No. 6 in E minor and No. 4 in D major, hoping to be able to record some of these soon!

Juan Carlos Olite thank you very much for the kind words and advice! I do tent to use more sustain pedal than necessary especially when it comes to slower paced pieces like this, with a lot of tricky passages, which is something I’m trying hard to get better at among many other things. However, I’m not sure if I would ever acquire the taste for a minimal pedal in playing Bach but it’s just a personal preference, plus that I don’t think I will ever achieve Schiff’s mastery to make it even sound okay haha…

Since you’re sharing yours, my personal obsession when it comes to the WTC recording is Richter’s, for his meditative style with “bold statements”. I have once read a story (not sure if it’s true) that he had choose to playing the entire WTC book I at Stalin’s funeral, until he was dragged off stage…https://www.wqxr.org/story/277575-bach-360-well-tempered-clavier/

I have also grown fond of Aimard’s rendition of Book I, for his “French style” interpretation, creative and almost childlike at times. For example, I like how he played the trills in his prelude in G minor:

https://youtu.be/6QjeB6pjAOo?si=tZheNNtImU4gLF4k

Hope to hear more about everyone’s “obsessions” and creative interpretations, as I believe that everyone would have their own unique experiences and ideas of how Bach should sound like!

Katrina Wei Dear Katrina, I completely agree with you about the Partitas also, the E minor having long been my very favorite. I find that fugue in the first movement (Tocatta) very formidable, and it's been a wish list item of mine for years that I thought I would never be able to play. But I'm finding the thought of it less imposing since I immersed myself in the Well-Tempered Clavier (fulfilling one of Bach's stated purposes for the WTC as providing instruction "for the use and benefit of inquisitive young [sic] musicians" ).

Katrina Wei Also, speaking as one who tends to over-use the pedal, I'm trying to minimize my usage of it in my WTC journey, so as to better train myself to play legato. But then I relax that approach after I've learned the piece.

I've noticed that many Tonebase instructors have promoted a much less restrictive attitude towards the pedal in playing Bach. Dominic in particular has encouraged its use in many contexts See e.g. his recent TB lesson on the Bb Prelude from Book 1. He says there that he uses it for greater sonority in certain places, among other things.

I do my best not to over-rely on it for legato, but find a touch of it can be legitimately helpful here and there: For example in this D# Minor Fugue, measure 21 2nd beat, where you would need to stretch a 10th to play the D# (whether stretching down with the RH or up with the LH), and again when the same phrase is echoed in m. 22, 4th beat (RH stretch up to the G# while holding the E#) .  I can barely reach the 10th and can't control the touch when I get there.  so, e.g. in m.22, I hold the E# for as long as I can and use a touch of the pedal to get to the G#. Voila! legato!

Katrina I can't see what you're doing in m. 21, but in m. 22 you seem to take the same approach, as it looks like you lift your hand to reach that G#.

Peter Golemme  the entire Partita No. 6 is really challenging in so many aspects! It’s the epitome of the deep and powerful sentiments of Bach’s pieces. I have recently watched a lecture on Tonebase by Nicholas Namoradze and he did a wonderful job giving detailed explanations and tutorials on the suite!

Peter Golemme oh yes I was using the pedal to achieve more of a legato in those measures for sure as my hand size can barely reach a 9th… I tried to aim for a clearer touch when I play with pedal and sometimes for a bell-like sounds that I’m obsessed with, still I find the parallel 6ths to be the most challenging and this piece wouldn’t sound quite right with a lot of detached sound… I also get really nervous when it comes to performing even recording, and this is also something I’m trying to work on as well!

Katrina Wei Katrina you are not alone in being nervous about performing and recording, and the best tonic for that is just to do both as much as possible.  Certainly recording is good practice for live performance, because the "pressure is on" to try to capture your best take.  But unlike a live performance, you still have the option to scrap the recording and try again.  The Tonebase Community Concerts are a great option for performing live, and we'll hope to see you there whether with these pieces or others.