[no subject]

In his introduction, Mr Gray also delineates the nature
of each of the preludes and fugues in relation to their
key signature: "Not only is one conscious of a definite
logic in the sequence of the numbers, and a spiritual
relation between them, but one also feels that the
particular key in which each number is written is the
inevitable, the absolutely right key." (Pg. 5). Mr. Gray
adds that this characteristic is more prevalent in the first
book of 24 Preludes and Fugues, which is, in his opinion,
"the more consistent and homogenous of the two."
The second set is excellent, as well, but it seems a little more
random, with each individual piece relating to the rest of the
body of the work in nothing but a very small way.
We must remember that Bach did not add the second book
to the first--it came twenty two years later under the title
"Twenty-Four new Preludes and Fugues," with no mention
whatsoever of Das wohltemperirte Klavier, which has become
the traditional name for both.

This holds up to a listening test, as well, for now as I hear Gould
humming along, the Fminor prelude and fugue of the first book
recall Blackwood's recreations of Newfoundland, D|rer, and, indeed,
Gould himself, as an entity. The Fminor prelude and fugue from
the second book does not provoke this type of feeling, wonderful
as it may be. Certainly there is no fault in this--a different story
is being told.

Will