Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Luca Guglielmi
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Avi Music
Catalogue: AVI8553233
Release: 2022
Size: 2.27 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, BWV 870-893
CD 01
01. Prelude I in C Major, BWV 870 (Version B)
02. Fugue I à 3 in C Major, BWV 870
03. Prelude II in C Minor, BWV 871 (Version A)
04. Fugue II à 4 in C Minor, BWV 871
05. Prelude III in C-Sharp Major, BWV 872 (Version B)
06. Fugue III in C-Sharp Major, BWV 872
07. Prelude IV in C-Sharp Minor, BWV 873 (Version B)
08. Fugue IV à 3 in C-Sharp Minor, BWV 873
09. Prelude V in D Major, BWV 874 (Version A)
10. Fugue V à 4 in D Major, BWV 874
11. Prelude VI in D Minor, BWV 875 (Version A)
12. Fugue VI à 3 in D Minor, BWV 875
13. Prelude VII in E-Flat Major, BWV 876 (Version B)
14. Fugue VII à 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 876
15. Prelude VIII in E-Flat Minor, BWV 877 (Versin A)
16. Fugue VIII à 4 in E-Flat Minor, BWV 877
17. Prelude IX in E Major, BWV 878 (Version A)
18. Fugue IX à 4 in E Major, BWV 878
19. Prelude X in E Minor, BWV 879 (Version B)
20. Fugue X à 3 in E Minor, BWV 879
21. Prelude XI in F Major, BWV 880 (Version A)
22. Fugue XI à 3 in F Major, BWV 880
23. Prelude XII in F Minor, BWV 881 (Version B)
24. Fugue XII à 3 in F Minor, BWV 881
CD 02
01. Prelude XIII in F-Sharp Major, BWV 882 (Version A)
02. Fugue XIII à 3 in F-Sharp Major, BWV 882
03. Prelude XIV in F-Sharp Minor, BWV 883 (Version A)
04. Fugue XIV à 3 in F-Sharp Minor, BWV 883
05. Prelude XV in G Major, BWV 884 (Version A)
06. Fugue XV à 3 in G Major, BWV 884
07. Prelude XVI in G Minor, BWV 885 (Version A)
08. Fugue XVI à 4 in G Minor, BWV 885
09. Prelude XVII in A-Flat Major, BWV 886 (Version B)
10. Fugue XVII à 4 in A-Flat Major, BWV 886 (.)
11. Prelude XVIII in G-Sharp Minor, BWV 887 (Version A)
12. Fugue XVIII à 3 in G-Sharp Minor, BWV 887
13. Prelude XIX in A Major, BWV 888 (Version A)
14. Fugue XIX à 3 in A Major, BWV 888
15. Prelude XX in A Minor, BWV 889 (Version B)
16. Fugue XX à 3 in A Minor, BWV 889
17. Prelude XXI in B-Flat Major, BWV 890 (Version A)
18. Fugue XXI à 3 in B-Flat Major, BWV 890
19. Prelude XXII in B-Flat Minor, BWV 891 (Version A)
20. Fugue XXII à 4 in B-Flat Minor, BWV 891
21. Prelude XXIII in B Major, BWV 892 (Version A)
22. Fugue XXIII à 4 in B Major, BWV 892
23. Prelude XXIV in B Minor, BWV 893 (Version A)
24. Fugue XXIV à 3 in B Minor, BWV 893
Das Wohltemperirte Clavier, a collection of preludes and fugues in all major and minor keys completed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1722, was clearly modelled along the lines of Ariadne Musica by Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (1662-1746, Kapellmeister in Baden from 1715 to 1746) an organ music anthology published for the first time in 1702 and probably known by Bach in its second 1715 edition. Bach took Fischer’s original layout of 20 keys and expanded it to a total of 24, thereby creating the first self-contained collection of music written for the entire corpus of existing keys.
Bach, who, on the handwritten title page of the beautiful copy now preserved in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (Mus. Ms. P 415), signed as Hochf. Anhalt-Cthenischen Capel-Meistern und Directore derer Cammer Musiquen, clearly indicated his purpose in composing this incomparable collection: “for the profit of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.”
Regarding the instrument we have chosen for this recording of Vol. II, we have selected a copy by Kerstin Schwarz of the fortepiano built by Gottfried Silbermann in 1749, now preserved in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. In recent years a clearer picture has emerged of Bach’s instrumentarium, and one can infer that in the last ten years of his life he had a Silbermann fortepiano at his disposal. By then he regarded it as a valid alternative to the harpsichord, the clavichord, and the Lautenwerck, which, taken together, embodied the generic term Clavier. Silbermann, for his part, relied on Bach’s assistance as Cantor to help him sell his valuable instruments (a fortepiano cost as much as a Capellmeister’s annual salary!), and he was entirely indebted to Bartolomeo Cristofori for the design of his fortepiano mechanism, which he later applied to the robust makeup of harpsichords of late German build.
This recording of the Zweyter Theil of Das Wohltemperirte Clavier is dedicated to her memory as well to her husband, the late Paul Badura-Skoda (1927-2019), in comparable pianist and soloist on historical fortepianos. Version A: after the original manuscript, London (1742) Version B: after the tradition by Johann Christoph Altnichols (1744).
Luca Guglielmi (Turin, Italy, 1977) is a conductor, composer, soloist of keyboard instruments (harpsichord, organ, clavichord, fortepiano, modern piano) and musicologist, renowned for his historically informed interpretations of music of all periods, his wide repertoire from Gesualdo to Stravinsky, and his strong commitment into the study and application of phenomenology of music.
Recently, he has been appointed assistant conductor to Jordi Savall (with whom he collaborated since more than twenty years) in his long-term project of complete performance and recording of Beethoven’s 9 Symphonies with Le Concert des Nations.
Luca Guglielmi has a wide discography of more than 50 CDs, among them 18 solo titles devoted to a repertoire from Frescobaldi to Mozart, for such labels as: Accent, cpo, Vivat, Hnssler Classics, Stradivarius and Elegia. His recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Pasquini’s Sonate da gravecembalo have been awarded with the Diapason d’or; his last organ recording Bach in Montecassino, for the English label Vivat, received an Editor’s Choice from the Gramophone magazine.
Luca Guglielmi is professor of harpsichord, fortepiano and chamber music at ESMUC (Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya) in Barcelona.