.S. ach J Bas wohltemperierteD lavier K John Butt Johann Sebastian Bach as wohltemperierte lavier John Butt harpsichord D K The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, BWV 846–69 isc 1 isc 2 1.D Prelude No. 1 in C major ...................2:00 1.D Prelude No. 13 in F sharp major ........ 1:24 2. Fugue No. 1 in C major ......................1:31 2. Fugue No. 13 in F sharp major ........... 1:33 3. Prelude No. 2 in C minor .................. 1:26 3. Prelude No. 14 in F sharp minor .........1:19 4. Fugue No. 2 in C minor ..................... 1:20 4. Fugue No. 14 in F sharp minor ........... 1:52 5. Prelude No. 3 in C sharp major ....... 1:20 5. Prelude No. 15 in G major ..................0:52 6. Fugue No. 3 in C sharp major .......... 2:16 6. Fugue No. 15 in G major.....................2:38 7. Prelude No. 4 in C sharp minor ....... 1:53 7. Prelude No. 16 in G minor .................. 1:09 8. Fugue No. 4 in C sharp minor ..........2:45 8. Fugue No. 16 in G minor..................... 1:32 9. Prelude No. 5 in D major ................... 1:11 9. Prelude No. 17 in A flat major .............. 1:22 10. Fugue No. 5 in D major ..................... 1:34 10. Fugue No. 17 in A flat major ............... 1:56 11. Prelude No. 6 in D minor .................. 1:20 11. Prelude No. 18 in G sharp minor .........1:13 12. Fugue No. 6 in D minor ..................... 1:46 12. Fugue No. 18 in G sharp minor ......... 1:52 13. Prelude No. 7 in E flat major .............3:28 13. Prelude No. 19 in A major ....................1:21 14. Fugue No. 7 in E flat major ............... 1:34 14. Fugue No. 19 in A major .....................2:02 15. Prelude No. 8 in E flat minor .............2:23 15. Prelude No. 20 in A minor .................. 1:08 16. Fugue No. 8 in D sharp minor ..........3:50 16. Fugue No. 20 in A minor .....................3:48 17. Prelude No. 9 in E major ....................1:18 17. Prelude No. 21 in B flat major..............1:15 18. Fugue No. 9 in E major .......................1:14 18. Fugue No. 21 in B flat major ............... 1:38 19. Prelude No. 10 in E minor ................. 1:42 19. Prelude No. 22 in B flat minor ............ 2:17 20. Fugue No. 10 in E minor .................... 1:23 20. Fugue No. 22 in B flat minor ............... 1:58 21. Prelude No. 11 in F major .................. 1:03 21. Prelude No. 23 in B major...................0:57 22. Fugue No. 11 in F major......................1:12 22. Fugue No. 23 in B major ..................... 1:36 23. Prelude No. 12 in F minor ..................1:14 23. Prelude No. 24 in B minor...................4:06 24. Fugue No. 12 in F minor ....................2:49 24. Fugue No. 24 in B minor .....................5:08 2 The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II, BWV 870–93 isc 3 isc 4 1.D Prelude No. 1 in C major ................... 2:01 1.D Prelude No. 13 in F sharp major ........2:42 2. Fugue No. 1 in C major ....................... 1:40 2. Fugue No. 13 in F sharp major ...........2:05 3. Prelude No. 2 in C minor ....................2:00 3. Prelude No. 14 in F sharp minor ........ 2:21 4. Fugue No. 2 in C minor ....................... 1:45 4. Fugue No. 14 in F sharp minor ...........3:36 5. Prelude No. 3 in C sharp major ......... 1:44 5. Prelude No. 15 in G major ..................2:24 6. Fugue No. 3 in C sharp major ........... 1:38 6. Fugue No. 15 in G major......................1:16 7. Prelude No. 4 in C sharp minor ......... 3:16 7. Prelude No. 16 in G minor ..................2:22 8. Fugue No. 4 in C sharp minor ........... 2:01 8. Fugue No. 16 in G minor.....................2:48 9. Prelude No. 5 in D major .................... 5:16 9. Prelude No. 17 in A flat major ............3:25 10. Fugue No. 5 in D major ....................... 1:57 10. Fugue No. 17 in A flat major ............... 2:15 11. Prelude No. 6 in D minor .................... 1:35 11. Prelude No. 18 in G sharp minor ........ 5:15 12. Fugue No. 6 in D minor ....................... 1:38 12. Fugue No. 18 in G sharp minor .........3:25 13. Prelude No. 7 in E flat major ...............2:38 13. Prelude No. 19 in A major ................... 1:40 14. Fugue No. 7 in E flat major ................. 1:35 14. Fugue No. 19 in A major ......................1:21 15. Prelude No. 8 in D sharp minor .........4:07 15. Prelude No. 20 in A minor ..................3:30 16. Fugue No. 8 in D sharp minor ........... 2:19 16. Fugue No. 20 in A minor ..................... 1:42 17. Prelude No. 9 in E major ..................... 4:14 17. Prelude No. 21 in B flat major............. 5:17 18. Fugue No. 9 in E major ........................ 2:14 18. Fugue No. 21 in B flat major ............... 1:54 19. Prelude No. 10 in E minor ...................3:37 19. Prelude No. 22 in B flat minor ............2:27 20. Fugue No. 10 in E minor ......................2:40 20. Fugue No. 22 in B flat minor ............... 3:21 21. Prelude No. 11 in F major ....................2:52 21. Prelude No. 23 in B major................... 1:59 22. Fugue No. 11 in F major....................... 1:30 22. Fugue No. 23 in B major .....................2:30 23. Prelude No. 12 in F minor ...................3:34 23. Prelude No. 24 in B minor................... 1:47 24. Fugue No. 12 in F minor ...................... 1:57 24. Fugue No. 24 in B minor ..................... 1:48 Recorded at Design by gmtoucari.com St Martin’s, East Woodhay, Hampshire, UK Harpsichord by Bruce Kennedy 15–18 July 2013 Copy of a German instrument (1702–4) by Produced and recorded by Philip Hobbs Michael Mietke (d. 1719), owned by the Post-production by Julia Thomas Dunedin Consort, tuned to a’ = 415Hz 3 as wohltemperierte lavier D K The influence of theWell-Tempered Clavier has been remarkably continuous for a large-scale work of J.S. Bach; its reach has been widespread, if sometimes hidden from the glare of publicity. It has often proved seminal for later pioneers in composition and performance, providing a variety of models both for musical design and the honing of keyboard technique. But it is also true that many music lovers, musicians, composers and scholars of all levels have consistently found something worthwhile within it. This remarkable breadth of application seems to have been part of Bach’s intention, if his title page for the first volume is anything to go by: ‘For the profit and use of musical youth desiring instruction, and especially for the pastime of those who are already skilled in this study’. In other words, Bach himself designed the collection as something to be both supremely instructive but also enjoyable. The lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber recalled that his father had heard these pieces first hand: Bach apparently played through the collection three times in all during the course of their lessons after both had tired of more formal study. On the other hand, the existence of numerous sources of individual pieces and groups of pieces suggests that the collection was compiled from a vast reservoir of preludes and fugues, not all of which were originally designed to be presented or played in sequence. Much of Bach’s later output seems to have been designed to provide authoritative examples for professionals, pupils and interested amateurs, thus counteracting the growing taste for music that catered primarily to ephemeral fashions. But, almost paradoxically, many aspects of the WTC collection pointed as much to the future as to the past. Most obvious is Bach’s comprehensive survey of all the keys available within the tonal system. Although these had been theoretically possible for over a century, it was only relatively recently that keyboard instruments had been tuned in such a way as to render the less familiar keys more usable. Further, the very technique of keyboard fingering (and the standard proportions of keyboards) had hitherto excluded keys employing a large number of sharps or flats. A few composers before Bach had come close to covering most keys in a single collection (J.C. Fischer’s Ariadne musica of 1702 was an obvious influence) and the theorist Johannes 4 Mattheson gave short examples in every key, but certainly not fully fledged pieces. The complex genesis of Bach’s collection shows that he experimented with several ways of grouping pieces by key before settling on the final scheme of covering the entire chromatic scale, from C, with the pieces presented in the pairing of major mode followed by the minor. The very genre of ‘prelude and fugue’ might not have become so firmly established without Bach’s two encyclopaedic cycles. He inherited from older generations the genre of the ‘praeludium’ (alternatively ‘fantasia’ or ‘toccata’), a loose amalgam of free and fugal elements that can alternate in unpredictable ways. Although there was an increasing tendency to distil these two elements into two separate pieces, this remained only one option among several. What probably appealed to Bach about the pairing of prelude and fugue was the fact that the two corresponded to the two main sides of his musical personality. On the one hand, he was renowned well beyond his homeland as a supreme virtuoso performer who could improvise with total spontaneity (a fact that is all too easily forgotten today, when he is often labelled as a ‘composer’s composer’); on the other, he was undoubtedly the greatest musical thinker of his age, someone who could see inventive potential in any theme and who relished working out his thoughts on paper.