Topic: New Bach Video Prelude n 23 in B Major BWV 868 WTC1
Dear Friends,
This week, on our journey to discover WTC1, we meet the Prelude and Fugue in B Major.
A glance at the pieces in C#-, F'#- and B-Major, (I- 3, I- 13, I- 23) shows that they are related to one another in a remarkably intimate manner; and on closer examination one is forced to the conclusion that this does not arise so much from the relationship of the three keys as from the relationship of the ideas prompted by the keys. All keys in proportion as they differ from the fundamental scales {C-major and A-minor) become more and more transcendental, more removed from plain every day life, and enter an ideal sphere of existence and feeling. Though we have already felt compelled to define the mood of the preludes in C# and F#, in the sense of a contemplation of nature resulting in enjoyment, still there is no contradiction here; it is just in beholding nature that an intelligent man renounces egoism in the fullest sense of the word and acquires the feeling of universal existence.
Keys with flats, as opposed to those with sharps, are subjective, introspective — and so is minor, as opposed to major. Hence minor keys with many flats are the most reserved and, so to speak, the most philosophical (F-minor, Bb -minor - Eb-minor)\ major keys with many sharps, on the other hand, overflow with all-embracing love; they reveal the happiness of a soul gazing with rapture on the harmony of the world. Down to the most insignificant
semi-quaver there is nothing more fervent, more genuine in feeling, more saturated with melody than this short prelude in B. But the figuration must be minutely articulated, and justice rendered to every note; if the feminine endings are overlooked, especially those which at the point of stress introduce a rest, the piece can easily be ruined. With what feeling of repose do the opening bars already fill the soul, and again, how nobly does the expression rise in intensity up to the last closing measures in which the three voices are increased to four — and even five.
Enjoy your listening.
My actual setting is:
Played on Yamaha P125 piano stage Video Recording Samsung Galaxy A54.
VST: Hamburg Steinway D Pianoteq Stage 8.4.0
