Found a great Bach interpreter!

CyberGene I’m wondering if this more Romantic Bach is a Russian school somehow.

Perhaps. But then again, there's such variety among Russian pianists so I find it difficult generalize. I heard an interview of Vladimir Ashkenazy a few years ago where he claimed that there is no such thing as a "Russian school". But then again (again) there seems to be a strong tradition around the Moscow conservatory so.... Anyway, another Russian pianist that I find to be an extraordinary Bach interpreter is Nikolai Demidenko. It's another, more strict, style than Mr. Koroliov and Mrs. Nikolayeva but yet very expressive and with a sharpness and transparency in the polyphony that sometimes lead my thoughts to a certain Canadian pianist.

CyberGene

Yes, she definitely uses a Fazioli in these recordings, but I think it really works well in this context, and the particular instrument she uses sounds a bit more characterful than some other Faziolis I've heard.

I also have been getting more acquainted with her recordings since Hyperion started appearing on streaming services, and I've been really impressed by her playing, particularly her Bach.

I've listened to both the older WTC and newer version, and while they are both excellent, I do think the newer version is the better of the two.

johanibraaten well, I’ve been listening to Angela Hewitt’s WTC in the last minutes (her second recording) and despite being Canadian, she’s closer to Koroliov’s Bach than to her compatriot Gould’s Bach 🙂 Hard to say there are any national “schools” of how to play Bach (or any other composer), although there are certainly some traditions. I found Koroliov, Nikolayeva and Richter’s Bach very similar. They are not shy of applying sustain pedal and use more dynamic contrast. Oddly enough, Hewitt’s Bach is even farther up that scale and I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ll wait to hear the entire WTC at least twice but I can easily see how Hewitt would become my new favorite. And the Fazioli is absolutely divine, as is the recording quality.

Decided to search for some comparison of Koroliov and Hewitt and while it’s not exactly that, I found an interesting review of Koroliov’s WTC 2 on Classics Today that mentions Hewitt and Gould:

As with his magnificent recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, Evgeni Koroliov interprets Book 2 from a pianistic angle, taking advantage of the instrument’s potential for varied colors, articulations, and dynamics, while at the same time avoiding stylistic anachronisms. There are so many details to savor, you hardly know where to begin. His unconventionally slow pace for the C minor fugue allows the contrapuntal lines to take on a more vocal quality than usual. Note how gorgeously he shapes the left hand’s often-ignored top line in the D-flat prelude and the subtle rubato with which he inflects the C-sharp minor fugue. In contrast to the D major prelude’s militant pomp, Koroliov takes an unusually brisk, nimble, and witty approach to its corresponding fugue (the A-flat fugue is similarly dispatched).

By contrast, Koroliov’s spacious, reverential way with the E major fugue recalls Glenn Gould’s similarly drawn-out mono recording. He resists Angela Hewitt’s dynamic contrivances in the difficult-to-clarify G minor fugue, achieving textural variety by means of his marvelously controlled staccato articulation. Koroliov keeps the G-sharp minor fugue’s lines afloat so that their accents fall over rather than on the barlines. The pianist’s gentle and introspective A minor prelude markedly contrasts to his bleak and hard-nosed way with its corresponding fugue. What a joy it is to experience Koroliov’s authoritative and individual Bach pianism at its best. Don’t miss this release!

Source: https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-8633/

Here’s also the earlier review of WTC 1 from Classics Today:

Evgeni Koroliov’s recordings of The Art of Fugue (for Tacet) and the Goldberg Variations (for Hänssler) have placed him in the forefront of today’s Bach pianists. This new recording of Book One of the Well-Tempered Clavier confirms his stature in this repertoire beyond a shadow of a doubt. Koroliov plays this music with such poetry, finesse, and real joy that questions of “authenticity” or instrument selection fade into insignificance.

In his title for the work, Bach deliberately avoided naming a specific keyboard instrument, and it’s known that this music could and would certainly have been played on everything from a harpsichord to clavichord, organ, or even early piano. In fact, Bach’s music is a celebration of keyboard virtuosity, and Koroliov’s performance offers a genuine display of the pianist’s art. His playing of the G major fugue, for example, has the brittle clarity of the harpsichord but a witty brilliance that is all his own. On the other hand, the mesmerizing, gradual crescendo and diminuendo he makes of the long C-sharp major fugue offers a textbook lesson in how to use the piano’s dynamic shadings to enhance the clarity and harmonic tension of Bach’s contrapuntal lines. Even the more familiar fugues–the two openers, for example, in C major and minor–sound refreshingly vital and interesting, owing to a combination of irresistible forward momentum and a really intelligent, ear-catching approach to voice leading.

Koroliov’s view of the preludes is no less impressive: he perfectly catches the subdued, elegiac quality of the pieces in G minor and G-sharp minor. His playing has all the gentle intimacy of the clavichord. On the other hand, he’s not afraid to attack the F-sharp minor prelude with real anger and an almost Lisztian bravura, and he can stroke the simple, arpeggio preludes (such as the very first, in C major) with a dreamy sensuality that has us confused as to whether we are listening to Chopin or Bach, and frankly not caring which. In sum, this is a performance worthy to stand beside Gould, Tureck, Schiff, Fischer, or any other competing version that you can name. And it’s better recorded than any of them. The only drawback: really pretentious booklet notes that, as so often with German productions, say nothing intelligent about the music at all, and exist solely to prove that the note writer thinks he’s smarter than the composer. Who is he kidding? Never mind. Bring on Book Two!

Source: https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-4025/

CyberGene I’ve been listening to Angela Hewitt’s WTC in the last minutes

She's great! Not long ago I listened to a concert with her on YouTube from Wigmore hall in London where she played Bach, her playing is sublime. And she brought her Fazioli to that concert too and I agree that the clarity of the Fazioli is very suitable for Bach.

After one full listen to Hewitt’s WTC 1 (but not yet WTC 2), I find it a very well executed project with an emotional Bach, however I think there’s just a very tiny bit of exaggeration here and there. She’s just gone slightly over the top with the dynamic contrast. It’s not everywhere and is very minimal, so not a deal breaker but somehow Koroliov is more balanced and a middle ground between the ultra dry and emotionless Gould and the expressive Hewitt. I think that’s a nice variety of performances and I will listen to all of them depending on the mood I am in.

I can recommend this video series by EuroArts. It's four pianists that plays different preludes and fuges from WTC 1&2 and together they complete the whole circle. It's filmed in beautiful places around Europe and it's a very pleasant way to experience the music with four different but all fantastic pianists. I first watched it over 20 years ago when it was broadcasted on TV (I later bought it on DVD). The performing pianists are:
Andrei Gavrilov
Joanna McGregor
Nikolai Demidenko
Angela Hewitt
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBjoEdEVMABIhBJ4T0dIBu-jm3CzZQkY1&si=DsGrJ0rHaEgKQuAi

My favorite (by far) interpreter of Bach is Piotr Anderszewski. His last recording of WTC2 get high critical reviews, and his Bach is always fascinating. I can't stand Andras Schiff. He is like a beautiful machine. Everything is so perfect and even… so much that after a while everything sounds the same!

We all forget that using is to carry emotions and not IS NOT DEAD SET in traditions. Of course, playing Bach like Liszt would sound comic, so yes we have to be withing certain musical sense of style and knowledge.

But if anyone is telling me that there is no rubato in Bach, or be it baroque music, than one is simply uneducated fanatic. He should listen to a lot of harpsichord before saying that.

Bach is not a machine.

Thank you all for the recommendations! Listening to Anderszewski WTC2 - amazing so far.

Is it worth to get apple classical music over Spotify? I do think the Spotify search engine and way of organizing is not really optimized for classical music. And nowadays I listen to Classical >80% of the time. But maybe that's also a question for a new thread.

What about Zhu?

Here she plays, not too dry-not too wet; however, the room itself adds some interesting reverb, yet despite, I can hear some transparency in her playing that still brings out the independent nature of the voices whilst also coalescing with the bigger harmonic structure. The one thing I don’t like: she’s a “repeater,” and I believe the repetitions should be left for the practice room, but not for the performance hall. I heard you the first time, Zhu, so please, don’t repeat yourself:

https://youtu.be/3jGNgvz4GSQ?si=p_5gsL_8Ph-rnnSB

Note: Zhu uses “some” pedaling, but it is light & brisk, so as to not add too much “coloring,” especially in a room that already adds significant reverb(erations).

Pete14 I just listened to the aria and the first variations- Beautiful! And I think your description is spot on. I like the tempo and the articulations. She also does the ornamentation in the aria beautiful and sometimes a little different. Perhaps there is some hard handed accents in the left hand sometimes but overall very nice. But I don't agree about not having the repetitions (maybe the Count would not have fallen asleep without them).

johanibraaten nice. But I don't agree about not having the repetitions (maybe the Count would not have fallen asleep without them).

The ‘repetitions’ were meant to put the Count to sleep, and only if one intends for an entire audience to fall asleep, one should avoid them! 😁

Of course, you’ll always have some romantic dude claiming that the rep’s are there for a reason other than the one described above, but I know the composer intimately, and he, himself, is baffled by all the B.S. theories around taking the rep’s, “perhaps I should’ve made it clear that these are only meant as a sleeping aid,” he once said to me!

Of course, the most prominent B.S. theory is that the rep’s allow for the pianist to “say something different” the second time around, but the truth is that those taking the rep’s aren’t saying anything new, other than adding some ornaments, so you see, the real reason for some pianists to take the rep’s is more vague: to differentiate themselves from “the lazy” non-repeaters, like Glenn, who most certainly got the memo: “don’t take the repeats, I beg thee!”

I believe Glenn repeats a little section of “a” variation in his 1981 recording, but don’t quote me on that, for you see, as much as the experts claim the 1981 recording better, I’m still a sucker for the version that floored me: 1955!

That being said, Zhu is okay, and I forgive her for the rep’s; although I must say, I did feel a little sleepy towards the end…..😉

Does anyone have experience with the Gulda WTC recordings from the early 1970's? They were unusual in that the microphones were placed extremely close to the strings (on a Bösendorfer Imperial). I have only recently heard about these recordings, but not yet listened to them.

QuasiUnaFantasia Does anyone have experience with the Gulda WTC recordings from the early 1970's?

Was that released at one point on the Philips label? If so, I recall having that set back in the 90's. I remember it being quite dry and percussive, and rather fast at times. Worth a listen, though I can't say it was ever one of my favorites.

jdg78 Was that released at one point on the Philips label?

Possibly. I don't really know. It seems to be on a small label today "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald":

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/das-wohltemperierte-klavier/hnum/7070596?lang=en

Another WTC I've always loved - particularly if you are in the mood for a slightly softer-edged, contemplative interpretation - is Edward Aldwell on Nonesuch:

Here's another set I've long admired, though the pianist is not well known:

QuasiUnaFantasia Possibly. I don't really know. It seems to be on a small label today "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald":

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/das-wohltemperierte-klavier/hnum/7070596?lang=en

Yes, that appears to be a remastering of the same 70's recordings that were originally release on Philips.

Pete14 but I know the composer intimately, and he, himself, is baffled by all the B.S. theories around taking the rep’s, “perhaps I should’ve made it clear that these are only meant as a sleeping aid,” he once said to me!

😊

Pete14 What about Zhu?

Wow. Thank you for the reference and I confess my ignorance: never listened to Zhu Xiao-Mei before today. It became a favorite Goldberg, together with Gould, Jean Rondeau, Beatrice Rana… Btw, any one listened to Lang Lang Goldberg's? The first bars of the aria start beautifully, but then things get interesting…

I am in awe with Zhu Xiao-Mei. Had a quick youtube listen of a few snippets and the Art of the Fugue is monumental! Partitas, inventions, french suites, you name it, they are all wonderful. I will buy them all.

On the other hand, what I have listened of her Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert, does not move me at all. Bizarre. Again, @Pete14 : thank you for taking me out of my ignorance…