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Baldwin, Daniel wrote:
> At the risk of being accused of heresy by my brother and sister
f-minors, I
> confess that I have found a recording of WTC 2 which in some respects I > prefer to GG's! It is the recording by Sergey Schepkin recently issued on > Ongaku records. Have you heard Schepkin's Partita's too? Highly virtuosic with
extra
ornamentation others avoid. All tastefull. A must listen.
> I would be curious to know which versions of WTC, if any (in addition to > GG's) you consider of comparable merit to GG's Highly recommended but impossible to find: Betty Oberacker's WTCII
on piano from 1979 on Klavier records. A German-Romanian, now in the
USA,
she studied with Beryl Rubinstein.
Oberacker has astounding technique and clarity. Many of her preludes
and fugues
have the most delightful dance quality, almost like a 'cat prancing' that
exudes the
most incredible joy and delight a piano can make. 'Cat prancing' is
not a musical
term but I think you get the idea.
Betty's recording was critically acclaimed and she went on several tours
in
Europe and USA in the 70's. Her specialty, even now, is performing
the WTCII
from memory. In fact, she has made the WTCII a life-long
study. Her
ornamentation in the F minor prelude is unique, simple and beautiful.
Once
you hear it, you'll be highly motivated to play it her way.
She never recorded any more Bach, and made only two other recordings of
contemporary works of not much significance. She is now a professor
of
music and piano teacher.
Her recording is also unusual in the manner of recording technique that
used
very close microphones and no compression, creating a dynamic close
experience. That part could be called Gouldian, I suppose. This
recording
may have the closests microphones to strings of any other. Can't
prove it,
but it sounds closer than others.
You'll not likely to find this recording anywhere, it's that obscure.
I was lucky
to find it by chance at an estate sale. I posted questions
about it everywhere
and no one had heard of it. Thus, I guess I am the re-discoverer of a
long
forgotten classic!
I condider it un-surpassed and impossible to emulate. I posted a
review with
album cover at:
Mike
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