MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively Classicsonline Crotchet

 

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1
(1722)
Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major (BWV846) [4:42]; Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor (BWV847) [3:17]; Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C sharp major (BWV848) [3:33]; Prelude and Fugue No. 4 in C sharp minor (BWV 849) [9:13]; Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D major (BWV 850) [3:27]; Prelude and Fugue No. 6 in D minor (BWV 850) [3:53]; Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in E flat major (BWV 852) [5:33]; Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in E flat minor (BWV 853) [11:05]; Prelude and Fugue No. 9 in E major (BWV 854) [2:42]; Prelude and Fugue No. 10 in E minor (BWV 855) [3:31]; Prelude and Fugue No. 11 in F major (BWV 856) [2:21]; Prelude and Fugue in F minor (BWV 857) [8:20]; Prelude and Fugue No. 13 in F sharp major (BWV 858) [4:01]; Prelude and Fugue No. 14 in F sharp minor (BWV 859) [4:13]; Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in G major (BWV 860) [3:09]; Prelude and Fugue No. 16 in G minor (BWV 861) [5:31]; Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in A flat major (BWV 862) [4:38]; Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in G sharp minor (BWV 863) [5:24]; Prelude and Fugue No. 19 in A major (BWV 864) [3:57]; Prelude and Fugue No. 20 in A minor (BWV 865) [5:43]; Prelude and Fugue No. 21 in B flat major (BWV 866) [2:58]; Prelude and Fugue No. 22 in B flat minor (BWV 867) [7:38]; Prelude and Fugue No. 23 in B major (BWV 868) [3:19]; Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in B minor (BWV 869) [15:17]
Jill Crossland (piano)
rec. West Road Concert Hall, University of Cambridge, 5-6 September 2003.
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD113 [62:12 + 66:44]


Experience Classicsonline


Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier has to be one of the most searching pieces of writing, both as a compositional exercise and as one of the most testing of all performance vehicles for keyboard players.

While some are perfect miniatures, others are profound, soul-searching exercises which do much to put Bach’s very art into sharp perspective. This set of the pieces often referred to as the ‘48’ uses every note of the diatonic scale upon which to construct a prelude and a linked fugue and this recording, of Book One – the first complete 24 prelude and fugue cycle – is by the eminent and revered Bach interpreter Jill Crossland.

While purists amongst us might prefer these pieces performed on a harpsichord, the approach to the piano is not one of flamboyant Romanticism but a clear, pure vision of what Bach intended. From the gentle opening – possibly the most famous of all of these pieces: the C major prelude – to the impassioned, almost ferocious A minor prelude, to the fascination of the two-part invention of the D major with the sheer drama of its associated fugue, this is a great new interpretation of these seminal works.

Perhaps the most poignant of these interpretations is the truly heart-felt B flat minor Prelude, a fine performance which ekes out every ounce of pathos but builds into a massive, explosive climax.  Then there’s an almost playful performance of the B major prelude, a bright key anyway, but made that much brighter by this powerful performance.

These are balanced, finely worked miniatures and a good introduction to this major work. There’s not a feeling of being on top of the piano but rather in a room and set at an appropriate distance. A highly fitting addition to any collection of piano repertoire but, perhaps more importantly, a searching look at these major and scholarly works of Bach.

Glyn Mon Hughes

 


 

 




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.