JS BACH The Well-Tempered Clavier
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: Linn
Magazine Review Date: 01/2015
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 4
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CKD463
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(Das) Wohltemperierte Klavier, '(The) Well-Tempered Clavier |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer John Butt, Harpsichord |
Author: Jed Distler
Harmonic tension and release govern the Book 1 C major Prelude’s varying phrase-lengths, although its fugue’s majestic stretto textures become congested at Butt’s impatient pace. The C sharp major Prelude lilts with air in between the notes, even when the tempo marginally slows to allow the bass notes more resonant ‘oomph’, but the often austere C sharp minor Fugue is raring to dance the polka. The D sharp minor Fugue transpires faster than what you’d expect, following a rather choppy strum through the Prelude. But the F sharp minor Fugue’s contrasting motifs benefit from Butt’s animation and supple control as the counterpoint dances over the bar-lines. I also like the tiny emphasis on the A major Fugue subject’s opening note, from which the subsequent rising patterns tag along like the tail of a kite, making the most of Bach’s cross-rhythmic effects. Butt’s autoharp-like arpeggiations make the B flat minor Prelude sound like an intimate folksong rather than the usual weighty tome, while a welcome alla breve pace helps unify the B minor Prelude’s accentuations.
The rich timbral variety of Butt’s responsive harpsichord (modelled after a Mietke instrument familiar to Bach himself) reveals itself at the pedal point right at the start of Book 2’s C major Prelude, and in the inner voices emerging from the C sharp major Prelude’s full-bodied left-hand chords. Listeners resigned to heavy, ponderous readings of the D major, E flat and B flat minor Fugues will be relieved at Butt’s joyful speeds, as well as his fluid and flexible accounts of the ricecare-like F sharp minor and E major Fugues. Rightly or wrongly, Butt points up the D minor Fugue’s alternating triplet and duple rhythms with more rhythmic freedom than usual but the F major Fugue’s skipping gait is steady and light. Strangely, Butt fusses over and sectionalises the F minor Prelude, yet brings out the G minor Prelude’s French-overture character and delineates the G minor Fugue’s hard-to-clarify counterpoint to perfection. Also note the G sharp minor Fugue’s uncommonly fast tempo and asymmetrical phrasing. While Christine Schornsheim’s recent edition benefits from more spacious engineering and artistic consistency, Butt offers plenty of food for thought, along with his own extensive annotations discussing both the music and issues of performance practice.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
SubscribeGramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.