On Wednesday evening I went to Carnegie Hall to hear the pianist Richard Goode perform works by J.S. Bach, universally regarded as the greatest composer of the Baroque era.
The recital began with a series of selections from Book II of Bach's The Well Tempered Clavier. These were, in order performed, the Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Minor, BWV 883, the Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 884, the Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 889, and the Prelude and Fugue in B Major, BWV 892.
Perhaps no other musical work has had so profound an influence on both composers and musicians as has the WTC. In the Classical era, when Bach and his works had been largely forgotten, Haydn was among the first to recognize its importance and to study it intensely. Both Mozart and Beethoven owned copies of the score and made use of its exercises to perfect their own contrapuntal writing. One can see in the last movement of the former's Symphony No. 41 and in the latter's Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, how deeply these two composers applied themselves to mastering its lessons.
The WTC, whose confusing title has to do with a particular method of tuning keyboards, was written in two parts, the first in 1722 and the second in 1742. Both were used primarily for pedagogical purposes while at the same time serving as a vehicle intended to showcase the composer's mastery of counterpoint. In a certain sense, both parts, known as Books I and II, overlapped one another as each presented exercises for all 24 major and minor keys. In fact, some of the those that appeared in Book I were used again in Book II but transcribed for different keys than in the original. Chopin later adapted this same idea in the composition of his Preludes, Op. 28 which were again written for all the major and minor keys. While Bach intended the work for the use of his students, and indeed required them to write out all the preludes and fugues in their own hand, each is technically challenging and can only be attempted by an exceptionally skilled pianist.
The first half of the recital then concluded with a rendition of Bach's Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830 (1730). The work is a suite of seven dance airs, the last of a series that were published individually over a six year period and then gathered into a single publication entitled Clavier-Übung I ("Keyboard Exercises I") in 1731. If for no other reason, the collection is notable for having been the first published during Bach's lifetime. Bach was then, at age 45, hardly an old man but this series marked his third and final set of keyboard suites, following the English Suites (1715) and the French Suites (1722-1725). They were also the most technically difficult of the three to perform. While suites of dance airs were a staple of Baroque music, this final set of partitas, most especially the No. 6, have much greater depth than one would ordinarily expect of such a work. There is a sense throughout of strong emotion held rigorously in check. This can be sensed at once in the opening Toccata that is at once the longest movement in any of the six partitas and at the same time one of the most profound in its subtle shifts of mood. At the heart of the work is the Sarabande, on its surface a calm and slightly old fashioned sounding air but underneath filled with dark longings that do not easily correspond with the modern image of Baroque music or, for that matter, of Bach himself.
In the second half of the recital, Mr. Goode was scheduled to perform a number of short works by Chopin. Unfortunately, due to a prior commitment, I was unable to stay for this portion of the unusually long program. I was quite happy, however, to have heard nearly an hour of Bach's immortal music played by so fine a musician as Mr. Goode. I've heard him many times over the years and have always been impressed, not only by his impressive technique, but also by the deep feeling and understanding he evidences toward the music in all his performances.
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