Topic: New Bach Prelude n 13 in F sharp Maj, BWV 858 Pianoteq
Dear Friends,
In the wet and foggy Italian winter today I continue with my little marathon to discover Bach's WTC 1. Hoping you will enjoy these videos and the not so brief explanations of the various pieces. I wish you happy listening.
The nature-painting moods of the C-sharp and E-major preludes have new noble counterparts in this prelude and the fugue of similar mood which follows. As the key of F-sharp stands between E-major and C#-major, brighter than the former but less glowing than the latter (compare the passage in F# in the middle of the C# prelude), so does the F# prelude form a natural middle member between the one in E, fresh as spring, and the other in C#, rich with summer glow. Although strictly in two voices from beginning to end, till it is full of hfe, entrancing up to the very last note, moving onward in so natural a manner, that one always lingers over it with renewed rapture. The
gently swinging opening motive which is immediately taken up by the under voice, at once calls to mind the mood of the prelude in E. This indeed is the only figuration motive which the under voice repeats alternately with the upper one: the former proceeds quietly, in quaver counts, by diatonic steps — in long descending and ascending lines, producing an effect similar
to that of the crotchet movement in the C#-major prelude — while the upper voice carries out a syncopated motive of enchanting grace while listening to it one can only think of the woods, of flowers, and of the song of birds.
My actual setting is:
Played on Yamaha P125 piano stage Video Recording Samsung Galaxy A54.
VST: Hamburg Steinway D Pianoteq Stage 8.4.0