GG: WTC

["Baldwin, Daniel" <baldwin@baermarks.com>]

At the risk of being accused of heresy by my brother and sister f-minors, I
confess that I have found a recording of WTC 2 which in some respects I
prefer to GG's! It is the recording by Sergey Schepkin recently issued on
Ongaku records. I have listened to the entire cycle once, and I am now on my
second cycle (I'm up to e minor). I am absolutely blown away (that's a
critical term of art) by this recording. I don't even know where to begin in
my praise. Just a couple of points right off the bat:

1. The tempos make sense in the context of the particular "character" of the
piece; thus, highly virtuosic pieces are played at a rapid tempo (e.g., C
major fugue, e minor fugue, B major prelude); fugues with particularly
melodic subjects (e.g. E major and E flat major fugues) are played at
moderate to slow tempos. GG's tempo choices, on the other hand, are often
based on the presence or absence of a high degree of counterpoint (which is
why, by his own admission, he rushes through so many of the 2-voice
preludes), although this is not a uniform statement, since he also takes
some highly contrapuntal fugues (e.g. f sharp minor and b flat minor) at
rapid tempos. [By the way, I love GG's versions of both of these fugues for
their fierce intensity, but I also commend Schepkin's version to you --
particularly the f-minor, which he plays at a much slower tempo, and it
works equally well].

2. With GG, each note in each voice is given almost precisely equal weight.
While this approach generally makes "vertical" contrapuntal relationships
stand out clearly, it does not necessarily work in all cases; sometimes (as
demonstrated by Schepkin) it is more revelatory to emphasize one particular
voice  (and of course this emphasis can shift); the approach brings out
harmonies that cannot be discerned (at least to my ears) in  GG's version,
and makes entire phrases (rather than each individual note) sing
contrapuntally. (I hope you know what I mean -- I don't have the musical
knowledge to describe it any better). 

I would be curious to know which versions of WTC, if any (in addition to
GG's) you consider of comparable merit to GG's.


Daniel Baldwin
BAER MARKS & UPHAM LLP
805 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Tel: (212) 702-5700
Fax: (212) 702-5941
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