Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier 1 & 2

This is the sort of set you start keeping score on, as positive and negative factors occur. The 1953 mono recording sounds every year of its age, so at four CDs for the price of three it's not a great bargain. Tureck writes at length in the booklet about her style of Bach playing and how it has changed over half a century, but she still endorses these performances. The listeners who respond best to them will probably be those hankering for the good old days when we didn't worry too much about issues of Baroque style. Tureck plays clearly and uses some proper ornaments, but she often romanticizes the music with slow tempos and extremes of dynamics. For every fugue she nails (like No. 12 in Book I) there are several that seem distended by modern standards. Even without the sparkling Feltsman edition for MusicMasters (recently deleted), there are several piano performances of the WTC available that will suit most tastes better, including the provocative and sometimes crazy Gould and the relatively straightforward Schiff. --Leslie Gerber Amazon.com essential recording

Loved this for years

I've listened to this set of discs for about 8 years and I still get that indescribable feeling of elation because the music is so beautiful and so beautifully played even if this is a vintage mono recording. This is truly a gem. I agree that it's a desert island disc. November 7, 2008

Stunning!

There are other artists who have provided highly creditable performances of the "48". However, I am unaware of any other pianist having Rosalyn Tureck's extraordinary ability to play a fugue of up to five parts with all voices being distinct and of equal weight (as would be the case with, say, a harpsichord performance), yet at the same time having the same voices so subtly shaped as to provide a seemingly indefinable yet very present individual dynamic and rubato where she feels the writing supports this; a wonderful characteristic unique to her and her unparalleled dexterity. That perceptive writer, John Ardoin, put it more succinctly when he referred to Tureck's "strong, independent fingers". Quite extraordinary.

The first example of this is immediate - Prelude 1 from Book 1 - a work well known to nearly everyone and generally done to death by student pianists (not to mention Gounod's mawkish travesty) so one might be tempted to think "Yes, OK, but let's move on". However, the first two or three bars are hardly complete before one's attention forcibly is arrested; here is something very different! And so it continues throughout this great collection.

Tureck often is criticized for the apparent slowness (in comparison with others) of some of her tempi. I find her choices in this regard to be entirely appropriate but in any event, these speeds are far from being arbitrary considerations; after all, Rosalyn Tureck was the author of, inter alia, "Introduction to the Performance of Bach" running to three volumes. Detractors may find something of value therein.

Having been brought up at 78rpm, I find it second nature to tune out the surface noise. Although several reviewers have commented upon this, it really is not at all obtrusive and in no fashion detracts from the immense enjoyment to be derived from listening to these four CDs. The quality of recording is very much better than, for example, the Glenn Gould offerings of a little later in the 'fifties and put out as CBS Masterworks. The CBS recordings were mediocre from the start; surprising given that Gould was very interested in recording techniques but no amount of digital chicanery will provide that which never was. Gould's having Steinway provide a very individual regulation of his instruments usually resulted in at least one and often more sour notes which quickly become irritating. None of this sort of thing with this DG recording which I find entirely acceptable. In any event, I should rather keep the minimal level of hiss than lose the music.

Dammit, if Rosalyn Tureck had done this cycle on wax cylinders, it still would be the best!




December 23, 2007

The BEST WTC and it's not even close

The 'professional' reviewer writes of Tureck, "she often romanticizes the music with slow tempos and extremes of dynamics." Either he is utterly ignorant or I listened to a different recording. NO ONE exercises more restraint than Tureck, in her tempi, her phrasing, and ESPECIALLY her dynamics. Without being heavy handed or pedantic, she manages to make each voice in each fugue sing with a marvelous vibrancy that is only slightly hampered by the poor sound quality (the only negative to this album). Listen to Tureck and you will realize how truly awful Gould is, especially in the WTC. Schiff is like light beer compared to this. The only version that comes close is Hewitt's, but she is still no Tureck. This might be the finest recording ever made for the piano, I do not exaggerate. October 4, 2007

4 discs of piano magic.

i'm just a country bumpkin, but i like to think i recognize greatness when i hear it. these mono recordings from 1953 have greatness all over them, to my ear. i see a couple of reviewers complain of the sound (not the performance) but to me the sound is fine. these are recordings from 1953 after all, and the somewhat archaic quality of the sound seems to add to the sense of music from another time and place that is thrilling, at least to me. there is so much warmth and heart to her playing that any technical matter regarding the transfer of the music from analog to digital is beside the point. this is simply stunning bach music brought to life by a master interpreter. get this by all means. then, if you want a recording of this material with a more updated technical sound quality, get till fellner's "das wohltemperierte klavier." that is wonderful, as well. March 12, 2007

Performance -- 5; Recording -- 3

The Tureck recordings of the Well-Tempered Clavier are so old that they were originally released on monaural LPs. My first exposure to them -- and to Tureck -- was the re-released, enhanced-to-sound-like-stereo versions. Like this CD, the more recent LPs are based on old monaural recordings that show their age.

But for me, at least, the background hiss is worth it because I am entranced by Tureck's rendition of the Preludes and Fugues. Yes, many of them are slower than more recent recordings, and you can't hear her singing as prominently as if Glenn Gould were at the keyboard (oh wait...), but what I have not seen her critics mention below is her voicing: her ten fingers create three, or four, or even five independent lines in each of the fugues. Give a listen to the C# minor fugue from Book One for an example. Any 4-year-old can learn the four-note subject in four seconds. But this cathedral of a fugue, with its new multiple subjects introduced at the end of the "exposition", is a monster to play contrapuntally. All five voices are heard independently in this recording.

Tureck has the speed necessary to execute the brilliant preludes, as well; witness the D Major, d minor, and Bb Major fugues from Book One.

I confess I am not familiar with many of the other popular recordings of the WTC, so I have little to compare this recording to. However, I recommend this recording. I also recommend Tureck's recordings of the partitas, and the Goldberg variations. July 19, 2005

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