Re: [F_MINOR] GG and WTK I & II

[Brad Lehman <bpl@UMICH.EDU>]

At 03:49 PM 10/6/2005, Danielle wrote:
>    * speculate on the diff between these two compositions;  and [if
> this is known]
Well, the books 1 and 2 are half a career apart, in general.  Some of
the pieces in both books are recycled from somewhat earlier material,
but on the whole there's a 20 year span between these books, in style.

Book 1 was (I believe) written to demonstrate a particular tuning
system, and probably also as part of Bach's job audition to move to
Leipzig...showing his readiness to teach, and his inventive
thoroughness.  (That latter hypothesis about the audition materials
is also put forward by Christoph Wolff in several articles, and his
biography of Bach.)  My research article about all this is linked through
http://www.larips.com
including the derivation of that specific temperament, from clues not
only in WTC 1 itself but also the extant music across Bach's whole career.

>    * GG's attitude towards them  as two discrete or rather two
> distinctive  works - I know he was not enamoured of them, but
>    * did he ever speculate on Bach's thoughts towards them?
GG did write an article entitled "Art of the Fugue", about
this....  Pages 15-22 in the _Glenn Gould Reader_.

>    * Is Bach's attitude known?
David Ledbetter's full-length book about the WTC is a good reference
on this.  Another good one (in German) is Alfred Durr's, as he was
the editor of both volumes for the Neue Bach-Ausgabe (NBA).

But, both of those authors were not working from a known (or
hypothetical) position that the tuning for both books was a
constant.  This tuning may now change the angle of analytical
approach to these pieces.  I know it certainly has already for me, as
a performer of this music.

>    * Why two excursions into  a progression of tonalities? Do they
> reflect a change in Bach's understanding or feelings towards
> tonalities and what they reflect?  If so what are these understandings?
Since I believe he used the *same* specific tuning for both books, I
think it's just a result of 20 more years of deep exploration into
that resource.  The temperament is so inexhaustibly expressive, it's
another go at giving each key another chance to speak.  Brilliant
examples of inventive music, both times.

>    * Were they composed at widely varying times/ states of mind?

Times yes; see above.  States of mind, who knows?

>    * Did this influence Gould's professed or rather empirically
> revealed lack of enthusiasm? And
>    * any  comments on his interpretation as opposed to that of
> other pianists?
I'm not sure where you have got the idea that Gould was
unenthusiastic about the WTC.  Please explain....

I like Gould's recording very well, among piano versions: but I'm not
terribly interested in listening to piano recordings of it very often
anymore.  Equal temperament washes out most of the music's color, and
then pianists have to do a bunch of artificial things to bring back a
comparable level of expression.  That artificial stuff, while often
interesting, doesn't move me anymore.

It suffices to set up Bach's specific other tuning (whether on
harpsichord, clavichord, organ, or can also be done on piano), and
then to play rather simply, as it is reported Bach did.  The musical
texture reveals itself without much interpretive assistance.  I have
explained this in the booklet notes of my recording of some WTC 1
excerpts, to be released later this month.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/cd1003.html

Another harpsichordist is recording all of book 1 later this month,
and book 2 early next year.  He too has reported to me
enthusiastically that overall interpretation is now a lot easier, in
his work within this specific tuning since summer 2005.

>    * Do Gould's interpretations differ - as a  generalisation
> -  between the I & II?  Or, if performed/recorded more than once,
> between individual pieces?
>    * Did the dates of recording and order  in which he recorded
> individual pieces reflect a continuum of like or dislike?

I doubt it.  The chronology of recording is in Nancy Canning's
discography, at the back of Otto Friedrich's book about GG.  GG
recorded these two books pretty much straight through, one LP at a
time.  I don't think it has anything to do with like/dislike.

Yes, he recorded a few of these preludes and fugues more than once,
and these alternate versions are interesting.

>


Bradley Lehman

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