Re: BWV 902

[Bradley Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>]

At 03:25 PM 8/2/2000 -0700, Jim Morrison wrote:
> > I've been listening to some lesser known Gould/Bach recordings and have
> come
> > across a real treasure on the second disc of the Sony Partitas Set, tracks
> > 16-18 of disc two, BWV 902 and 902a, Preludes and Fughetta  in G Major,
> > recorded in October of 1979.  A lot of fun.  Give it some consideration if
> > you haven't yet.  It's a great five minutes of late Gould/Bach
> >
> >  Does anyone know why these three separate tracks are titled BWV 902 and
> > 902a?

Aren't the two preludes just alternate choices to go with the
fughetta?  The fughetta is of course an earlier version of the G major
fugue from WTC2.

The Heinz Lohmann edition includes 902 only, and says that it's from the
Preller manuscript.  The BWV list included in Malcolm Boyd's _Bach_ doesn't
include 902a either.

There's a new recording of 902 by Robert Hill on Hanssler 92.107, which I
haven't heard.

Maybe you'll find more info by checking a Schmieder catalog at a
library.  Also this site is pretty interesting and informative:
http://www.music.qub.ac.uk/~tomita/wtc2mss.html

Welcome to the world of source studies!  The detective work can be a lot of
fun, and you seem to have the look-it-up bug.  Let us know what you find
out about it.


> > And on a separate issue, I recently heard for the first time Wanda
> > Landowska on harpsichord, a 1935/36 recording of the Italian Concerto.
> > Anyone else out there remember the first time they heard this very strange
> > sounding harpsichord, extremely mechanical?  Hard to believe there's
> anything
> > non-metal on the instrument which apparently was a behemoth and had the
> same
> > keyboard range of the piano.
> >
> > She made the first recording of the Goldbergs on it, and also recorded
> some
> > of Handel's Suites.

She recorded a lot *more* than that on that instrument, her Pleyel.  A LOT
more.

The history of Landowska and Pleyels is told very well in Larry Palmer's
book _Harpsichord in America_.  It's a delightful read about the
harpsichord revivals early in the 20th century.

_Landowska on Music_ is also a good book.  She certainly knew her stuff.

> > [ a link ] to the chromatic fantasy
> >
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/eras/B00000AFN2001004/002-7153921-7786408
> >
> >after hearing that, Gould's version of the chromatic fantasy doesn't sound
> so bad.

Yes, it does.  Gould hated the piece, and played it to make fun of it (seen
the video?).  Landowska played it with an overwhelming sense of drama and
commitment.  The difference is enormous.

> >  When Alan Caro was living in London, he heard a 1950 recording of the
> > pianist Dinu Lipatti playing Mozart's Piano Sonata K310 and was bowled
> over.

And a lovely record it is, too.  So is the other side, Bach transcriptions
and the Partita #1.  When I was a teenager our public library had some book
about the basic classical record library, and it had interviews with
various musicians.  Somebody said that that one LP by Lipatti is the very
best introduction to classical music that anyone could ever have.  (i.e.,
If a person doesn't like that record, they're probably hopeless with regard
to classical music.)  I bought it.  They were right.


Bradley Lehman
Dayton VA
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl