I spent 2 or 3 months sight-reading through its entirety in 2016. It altered my understanding of music and rocketed JS Bach into my #1 favorite composer slot probably for the rest of my life. Since then I can play a handful of the preludes and sometimes ONE of the fugues successfully (at least its the one with 5 voices). I assume "finishing" means working the whole thing up to fluidity but I'm going to pretend that my small achievement is remarkable enough.
@@mysteriev7071 Oh to name a few simple things, I no longer fear any key signature major or minor, and calculate double sharps at a faster pace, I have a better understanding of what a Fugue is and that a Prelude is like a creative introduction before the composers contrapuntal ability is presented, the strength of using inverted intervals like 6ths instead of simple 3rds, the stylistic difference between the classical period and baroque, and perhaps most generally that music's greatest potency is found where intellectualism and sensationalism intersect
@@carterschultz458 'Perhaps most generally that music's greatest potency is found where intellectualism and sensationalism intersect' - That great observation alone signifies the secrets you earned from your hard work.
A little known secret is that a lot of thematic material in Beethovens late string quartets comes from the fugue here, and in Beethovens notes we have found a partial arrangement of this fugue for string quartet, just listen to the grosse fugue's subject and dont tell me it isnt similar to this one, but there are more direct, well documented examples in other late quartets.
I think Paul's work is IMPRESSIVE and also setting it up... let's not frown at those who put thumbs down... there are many reasons this happens... envy perfectionism, jealousy... i think though one should give a justification of why they vote down a piece... that's when antithesis helps and is synthetic, otherwise it just creates a negative emotion...
The sequence of bass of the first measure is Droian. "The walking bass line of the first half of this prelude is made of the Dorian Mode using mainly the notes in the A Major Scale in some minor mood. Notably, the bass sequence of the first measure is 'B C# D E F# G# A B', which is 'Tonic, Whole-Step, Half-Step, Whole-Step, Whole-Step, Whole-Step, Half-Step, Whole-Step'. It is called the Dorian Mode. In other words, this pattern of intervals: T-S-T-T-T-S-T is the characteristic of the Dorian Mode. It is symmetric." It is not B-minor scale. Isn't it strange?
When I spent some time with it, I thought of it as fragments of the beginning of two minor scales. So you say there the B C# D E F# G# A B (C#), could be interpreted as Dorian. For me, I think of it was two minor ascending partial scales: in the tonic B C# D E F# and then in the dominant V (of B, which is F#) F# G# A B C#. They share the sam F#, so the ending of one leads to the start of another. I thought of it as an “echo” effect. I mean, also in the right hand, the middle voice starts out with F# B and then the upper voice echos it half measure later with C# and F#. I don’t have formal music theory training so I figured I should mention this though…
@@p07a I know a somewhat old comment, but this is correct. It's imitative counterpoint - the other voice starts a 5th higher. It's a quick tonicization of the dominant - it starts in B minor and instantly goes to F# minor as the 2nd voice enters. Nothing to do with Dorian really (at least not the modern understanding of Dorian).
Hi David -- I tried to record B4 way back when RUclips had a 10 min. upload limit and video files had to be very small compared to today, so cut the piece into two videos. I guess it would be nice to work on B4 again on the grand piano, and thanks very much for the encouragement - much appreciated.
Anyone else notice alot of Bach’s fugues in B minor have a similar structure or is it just me? I feel he uses a lot of chromatics in his B minor fugues
I agree with you and I feel it's something to do with B minor being the last key in both sets of the well tempered clavier, in fact the subject of the fugue here contains all 12 chromatic notes. Bach probably reserved the last fugue in the sets to be so chromatic as it kinda "wraps up" the 23 preludes and fugues before it
any one els noticed, that the Dux if the Fuge containes almost all 12 Notes of the Chromatic Scale (so almost very first Dodecafonic Piece 250 years befor Schönberg) ?
I’m learning this fugue now and my piano teacher said that the reason (also explaining why it is a slow tempo) is that b minor has both f sharp and a sharp, notes that are very far from C major which makes them sound extremely out of tune in a non equal temperament. For this reason b minor was a very feared key to compose in. I wonder how this fugue would sound in the temperament it was designed for.
The tempo of the fugue is just perfect, neither sluggish, nor too fast. Most versions I have heard are too slow to my taste, except Glenn Gould who is too fast.
Some don’t, particularly in Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Then people wonder if he just accidentally missed out an ‘understood’ natural or sharp.The Book II C minor fugue case is debatable. Some end on an ambiguous octave (F# minor fugue Book II). Other Bach pieces end on an octave approached by a minor arpeggio, so the minor sound is maintained though there’s no chord. It seems like he came to regard minor endings as more acceptable in his later work. I like to end some of the WTC pieces on minor chords.
Ezra Bernstein Because of how tuning was bach then, minor intervals could sometimes sound very dissonant (in a bad way). They didn’t have equal temperament like we do today so holding certain minor chords sounded really off. That’s why many Baroque pieces use the Picardy third to make it sound better or end it on an octave/unison.
NotHappy GoAway I thought it was because of equal temperament that Bach wrote this book. Never before could someone play in all 12 keys, major and minor. My understanding is that major chords are more “perfect” sounding and glory to god in heaven and all that. All the cool kids used The Picardy third ending back in the 18th century.
I am an adult beginner with a little over a year of self teaching and practice under my belt. I am just starting on the Bach Inventions and have learned a couple of them. But I'm just curious how long it takes the average bloke before being able to tackle something like this in the WTC? I'd absolutely love to be able to play this music at some point in my life.
Hi Paul Barton, I love all your videos! You are an inspiration to me. Beautiful versions here: perfect tempos, dynamics, and articulations. I particularly like the plodding march feel in the bass for the prelude. I heard some possible mistakes but I’m not 100% sure so I figured I would share. In the prelude, measure 44, 1st time, 7th note in left, you play D# (followed by a Cx?), should be D natural (then C#). It wasn’t there on 2nd time. On the repeat, however, measure 45, left hand, 3rd note, you play a D# instead of D. I think.. Measure 10 of the fugue, 2nd to last note (and of 4) in right hand is A natural, not A# (F# minor). On measure 39, fourth note (a of 1) of right hand is G natural, not G# (E minor). Measure 50, the half note on beat 1 in left hand is an E, not G. Measure 51, fourth note in left is A natural, not sharp, making F# minor. 57, 4th note, left hand, E natural.
Ironic that I just, literally, got the WTC Books I & II a few days ago feeling remiss for not owning a copy of a very epochal piece of music and music history. Your playing was very fine, very fine.
Hi Carl - Glad to hear it, and thank you. Some of the editions are easier to sightread from than others. Wonder which you have? The main difficulty for pianists is the fugues are written out so the separate voices can be clearly understood. Quite often you really have to stop, look and think which hand plays what, and try and memorize what you figured out. They are very enjoyable works to play for so many reasons, one of them being Bach wrote for both hands as equals, rather than the right hand taking the melody and the left hand just accompanying.
Paul Barton funny you should ask about which editions I got....I was only able to get Barenreiter’s Book I (they were out of Book II), so I then bought Henle’s Book II...! Both editions are very fine and written out very legibly and fairly big notes. It’s problematic with Bach when the print is too small as when he really gets going some editions the page looks almost black! And yes, with Bach especially, the sharing of fingers/hands with different voices is the ultimate challenge playing his works. Sometimes the left hand needs to grab the alto, or, even tenor! And the right hand sometimes has to grab also the tenor or even bass! Though this doesn’t happen often. But I’m really getting into Bach and it was a pleasure to see your interpretation. I was inspired to play the prelude after I watched you play! I didn’t have the patience to play the fugue as it’s much longer than the prelude, but I will get to it! If you only knew how much music I have it’s ridiculous! Anyway, thanks for responding and keep up the great work~!
@@PaulBartonPiano do you ever studied/recommend fugue by separating voices? I mean first voice, then adding second voice and so on? IMSLP provides expanded scores so I think it can be a good starting point for beginners like me willing to approach fugue first time.
As a few listeners before I immediately heard the wrong note in bar 4 (F instead of F sharp)? Two times: including the repetition. You can't see this in the video, because you SEE a F sharp. There is more: bar 44. The first time he plays in the left hand E - D sharp - D instead of E - D - C sharp. In the repetition he plays the right notes. But then, in bar 45 he plays (left hand) a D sharp instead of a D. So: what you see is NOT what you get. These are different takes (and mis-takes). Once you've found this out it's far from convincing. I really can understand people gave this video a thumb down. But this leaves me with more questions: Because of the repetition Barton I understand he didn't hear the wrong note when played. But how come? It is very clearly: a dissonant F against the F sharp in the bass. But when he plays on the image, he must have been aware of the right note (again: two times). Now the order must have been: 1 take of the sound, 2 take of the image. With visible correction. O.k., it is possible that a musician reads wrong notes. Morning head ache, hangover? But how can a musician, while aware of these sounding wrong notes, agree with the production of this video? If you go to other significant details: the pianist is not aware of playing contrapuntal music (two voices) in the right hand. The long alto notes are many times shortened. For instance bar 5, 6, 7: the half notes become quarter notes, ignoring every idea of the contrapunt. This is more or less a rape of Bach.
I hate to tell you this but you're playing this entirely wrong. You were playing the left hand staccatto and that's not correct. As a matter of fact whatever version you have there is incorrect. Each note of that left hand is to be held an extra one beat until you reach the next note. Entirely wrong and much more complex than this this is how I thought it was to be played at first.
The version that you were reading from is entirely wrong those left handed notes are all to be tied as a matter of fact a lot of the right hand notes are to be tied to
Wow, finishing the entire book 1 wtc, something so many people could only dream of doing
I spent 2 or 3 months sight-reading through its entirety in 2016. It altered my understanding of music and rocketed JS Bach into my #1 favorite composer slot probably for the rest of my life. Since then I can play a handful of the preludes and sometimes ONE of the fugues successfully (at least its the one with 5 voices). I assume "finishing" means working the whole thing up to fluidity but I'm going to pretend that my small achievement is remarkable enough.
@@carterschultz458 Could you explain a little deeper on "It altered my understanding of music" please, I'm very interested?
@@mysteriev7071 Oh to name a few simple things, I no longer fear any key signature major or minor, and calculate double sharps at a faster pace, I have a better understanding of what a Fugue is and that a Prelude is like a creative introduction before the composers contrapuntal ability is presented, the strength of using inverted intervals like 6ths instead of simple 3rds, the stylistic difference between the classical period and baroque, and perhaps most generally that music's greatest potency is found where intellectualism and sensationalism intersect
@@carterschultz458 there's two in 5 voices - I'm assuming you mean the c# minor. I played it too, amazing work
@@carterschultz458 'Perhaps most generally that music's greatest potency is found where intellectualism and sensationalism intersect' - That great observation alone signifies the secrets you earned from your hard work.
A little known secret is that a lot of thematic material in Beethovens late string quartets comes from the fugue here, and in Beethovens notes we have found a partial arrangement of this fugue for string quartet, just listen to the grosse fugue's subject and dont tell me it isnt similar to this one, but there are more direct, well documented examples in other late quartets.
This fugue is haunting, sad,scary and depressing but oh so beautiful
I would also add "enigmatic".
I would also add that it has a piercing tenderness in some parts.
How could two people give this a thumbs down? Both of my thumbs are raised to the heavens to compensate.
Thank you :) you are very kind.
I think Paul's work is IMPRESSIVE and also setting it up... let's not frown at those who put thumbs down... there are many reasons this happens... envy perfectionism, jealousy... i think though one should give a justification of why they vote down a piece... that's when antithesis helps and is synthetic, otherwise it just creates a negative emotion...
maybe liked more the second book :)
Ornamentation bad, yucky pedaling, etc
@@yannitzili8961 What a load of cod’s wallop!
Beautiful, Paul. The quality of your updates lately is astonishing, keep at it!
Thank you Vetlerradio - appreciate it.
The sequence of bass of the first measure is Droian.
"The walking bass line of the first half of this prelude is made of the Dorian Mode using mainly the notes in the A Major Scale in some minor mood. Notably, the bass sequence of the first measure is 'B C# D E F# G# A B', which is 'Tonic, Whole-Step, Half-Step, Whole-Step, Whole-Step, Whole-Step, Half-Step, Whole-Step'. It is called the Dorian Mode. In other words, this pattern of intervals: T-S-T-T-T-S-T is the characteristic of the Dorian Mode. It is symmetric." It is not B-minor scale. Isn't it strange?
When I spent some time with it, I thought of it as fragments of the beginning of two minor scales. So you say there the B C# D E F# G# A B (C#), could be interpreted as Dorian. For me, I think of it was two minor ascending partial scales: in the tonic B C# D E F# and then in the dominant V (of B, which is F#) F# G# A B C#. They share the sam F#, so the ending of one leads to the start of another. I thought of it as an “echo” effect. I mean, also in the right hand, the middle voice starts out with F# B and then the upper voice echos it half measure later with C# and F#.
I don’t have formal music theory training so I figured I should mention this though…
@@p07a I know a somewhat old comment, but this is correct. It's imitative counterpoint - the other voice starts a 5th higher. It's a quick tonicization of the dominant - it starts in B minor and instantly goes to F# minor as the 2nd voice enters. Nothing to do with Dorian really (at least not the modern understanding of Dorian).
Can you pls up load ballade #4 by chopin? I would love to hear you play that!!!!!
Excelent channel and keep on going
Hi David -- I tried to record B4 way back when RUclips had a 10 min. upload limit and video files had to be very small compared to today, so cut the piece into two videos. I guess it would be nice to work on B4 again on the grand piano, and thanks very much for the encouragement - much appreciated.
Thanks Paul!!! We all will love to hear you play Ballade #4
This fugue suits your style of playing much better than the prelude on this occasion.
You play E in bar 3 (beat 4) but we listen E sharp, playback?
Yes, right?!?!? It was driving me crazy!!! The note we heard is wrong, but it seemed to be the proper key in the video. Weird!
You are so cool
It happens both times too.. what are the odds?
Yip
The piano was in a devious mood that day >:)
never get tired of it, probably would take decades to become an expert in this style
Esse piano tem um timbre lindo e esse pianista é top
My favourite prelude and fugue ♡
This is a beautiful piece! I think I know what my next piano project will be! Time to dig out my WTC, Vol. 1!
Anyone else notice alot of Bach’s fugues in B minor have a similar structure or is it just me? I feel he uses a lot of chromatics in his B minor fugues
I agree with you and I feel it's something to do with B minor being the last key in both sets of the well tempered clavier, in fact the subject of the fugue here contains all 12 chromatic notes. Bach probably reserved the last fugue in the sets to be so chromatic as it kinda "wraps up" the 23 preludes and fugues before it
any one els noticed, that the Dux if the Fuge containes almost all 12 Notes of the Chromatic Scale (so almost very first Dodecafonic Piece 250 years befor Schönberg) ?
@@AKhosrobeik all of them...not almost all. And actually Schoenberg said Bach wrote the first tone row
I’m learning this fugue now and my piano teacher said that the reason (also explaining why it is a slow tempo) is that b minor has both f sharp and a sharp, notes that are very far from C major which makes them sound extremely out of tune in a non equal temperament. For this reason b minor was a very feared key to compose in. I wonder how this fugue would sound in the temperament it was designed for.
I love your Bach
Bach - Prelude and Fugue No. 24
Book 1 of The Well-Tempered.
Clavier
Prelude/Praeludium XXIV
:Starts - 0:10
:Ends - 5:23
Fugue/Fuga XXIV:
:Starts - 5:24
:Ends - 11:40
👍Thank's me later😊❤
Wonderful, Paul. Hope you’re doing well.
Thanks, Aakarsh - yes, all fine over here - how's things with you?
Paul Barton great, thanks :)
Always an inspiration!!!
Great voicing!!! ♥️
Thank you!
I love this one too, similar to number 8
Could you please do a comprehensive tutorial on Chopin's Ballade no 3? Thanks.
Very good!!
great interpretation
Nothing better on this planet.
I checked. ;)
So good!! Will you do the second book?
Thank you, Darija -- maybe ...
Paul Barton I hope! Give yourself some time but do it; you are such a wonderful pianist, I play the piano for 11years and I ADMIRE YOU❤😊
this is insane
The tempo of the fugue is just perfect, neither sluggish, nor too fast. Most versions I have heard are too slow to my taste, except Glenn Gould who is too fast.
Why do Bach's pieces ALWAYS have to end in a major chord, even if the piece is in a minor key?!?!
Ezra Bernstein picardy third i suppose
Some don’t, particularly in Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Then people wonder if he just accidentally missed out an ‘understood’ natural or sharp.The Book II C minor fugue case is debatable. Some end on an ambiguous octave (F# minor fugue Book II). Other Bach pieces end on an octave approached by a minor arpeggio, so the minor sound is maintained though there’s no chord. It seems like he came to regard minor endings as more acceptable in his later work. I like to end some of the WTC pieces on minor chords.
Ezra Bernstein Because of how tuning was bach then, minor intervals could sometimes sound very dissonant (in a bad way). They didn’t have equal temperament like we do today so holding certain minor chords sounded really off. That’s why many Baroque pieces use the Picardy third to make it sound better or end it on an octave/unison.
not always. For example: Wir setzen uns mit tranen nieder.
NotHappy GoAway I thought it was because of equal temperament that Bach wrote this book. Never before could someone play in all 12 keys, major and minor. My understanding is that major chords are more “perfect” sounding and glory to god in heaven and all that. All the cool kids used The Picardy third ending back in the 18th century.
Paul Barton ? Exlente poder leerlo
05:25 Fugue
I am an adult beginner with a little over a year of self teaching and practice under my belt. I am just starting on the Bach Inventions and have learned a couple of them. But I'm just curious how long it takes the average bloke before being able to tackle something like this in the WTC? I'd absolutely love to be able to play this music at some point in my life.
How is it going?
Hi Paul Barton, I love all your videos! You are an inspiration to me. Beautiful versions here: perfect tempos, dynamics, and articulations. I particularly like the plodding march feel in the bass for the prelude. I heard some possible mistakes but I’m not 100% sure so I figured I would share.
In the prelude, measure 44, 1st time, 7th note in left, you play D# (followed by a Cx?), should be D natural (then C#). It wasn’t there on 2nd time. On the repeat, however, measure 45, left hand, 3rd note, you play a D# instead of D. I think..
Measure 10 of the fugue, 2nd to last note (and of 4) in right hand is A natural, not A# (F# minor). On measure 39, fourth note (a of 1) of right hand is G natural, not G# (E minor). Measure 50, the half note on beat 1 in left hand is an E, not G. Measure 51, fourth note in left is A natural, not sharp, making F# minor. 57, 4th note, left hand, E natural.
I hear a lot of BWV 150 "Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich" in the prelude!
Ironic that I just, literally, got the WTC Books I & II a few days ago feeling remiss for not owning a copy of a very epochal piece of music and music history. Your playing was very fine, very fine.
Hi Carl - Glad to hear it, and thank you. Some of the editions are easier to sightread from than others. Wonder which you have? The main difficulty for pianists is the fugues are written out so the separate voices can be clearly understood. Quite often you really have to stop, look and think which hand plays what, and try and memorize what you figured out. They are very enjoyable works to play for so many reasons, one of them being Bach wrote for both hands as equals, rather than the right hand taking the melody and the left hand just accompanying.
Paul Barton funny you should ask about which editions I got....I was only able to get Barenreiter’s Book I (they were out of Book II), so I then bought Henle’s Book II...! Both editions are very fine and written out very legibly and fairly big notes. It’s problematic with Bach when the print is too small as when he really gets going some editions the page looks almost black! And yes, with Bach especially, the sharing of fingers/hands with different voices is the ultimate challenge playing his works. Sometimes the left hand needs to grab the alto, or, even tenor! And the right hand sometimes has to grab also the tenor or even bass! Though this doesn’t happen often. But I’m really getting into Bach and it was a pleasure to see your interpretation. I was inspired to play the prelude after I watched you play! I didn’t have the patience to play the fugue as it’s much longer than the prelude, but I will get to it! If you only knew how much music I have it’s ridiculous! Anyway, thanks for responding and keep up the great work~!
@@PaulBartonPiano do you ever studied/recommend fugue by separating voices? I mean first voice, then adding second voice and so on? IMSLP provides expanded scores so I think it can be a good starting point for beginners like me willing to approach fugue first time.
GREAT !!!
저 시대 바흐가 살았던 곳으로 가서 그 분위기를 느껴보고 싶다
예, 바흐가 독일에 살던 9 곳의 항해가 멋진 여행이 될 것입니다.
Going to imslp for some more sheet music. My poor printer.
much better than gould.
Different, I don't think one is better than the other.
That trill with fingers 3 and 4... Weird...... OMG he really did trill again with fingers 1and 2.
who came here to compare bad romance and this
Where does bad romance start
@@andrebyrd1337 5:25
@@fernandoozornio8508 thanks
How difficult would you say this fugue is on like a scale from one to ten?
definite 6-7 from me if you've played a lot of Bach
its complex, but there are patterns and most editions have fingerings that work out well.
Its ABRSM 7-8, and Henle 7 (difficult)
i love this
Can you play la campanella Paul plss
mmm Again you, hahahaha
I had a go at that when I was 16 and haven't played it since. It wasn't a popular piece back then in the way it is now.
Fugue : 5:25
🎹
Lmao am i the only one caught in a bad romance???
You’re on your own
GG
5:25 Fugue
6:45
Good performance, however it's so made for clavier
too much reverb kills the music, can t hear anything
As a few listeners before I immediately heard the wrong note in bar 4 (F instead of F sharp)? Two times: including the repetition.
You can't see this in the video, because you SEE a F sharp.
There is more: bar 44. The first time he plays in the left hand E - D sharp - D instead of E - D - C sharp.
In the repetition he plays the right notes. But then, in bar 45 he plays (left hand) a D sharp instead of a D.
So: what you see is NOT what you get. These are different takes (and mis-takes). Once you've found this out it's far from convincing.
I really can understand people gave this video a thumb down.
But this leaves me with more questions: Because of the repetition Barton I understand he didn't hear the wrong note when played. But how come? It is very clearly: a dissonant F against the F sharp in the bass.
But when he plays on the image, he must have been aware of the right note (again: two times).
Now the order must have been: 1 take of the sound, 2 take of the image. With visible correction.
O.k., it is possible that a musician reads wrong notes. Morning head ache, hangover?
But how can a musician, while aware of these sounding wrong notes, agree with the production of this video?
If you go to other significant details: the pianist is not aware of playing contrapuntal music (two voices) in the right hand. The long alto notes are many times shortened. For instance bar 5, 6, 7: the half notes become quarter notes, ignoring every idea of the contrapunt.
This is more or less a rape of Bach.
I hate to tell you this but you're playing this entirely wrong. You were playing the left hand staccatto and that's not correct. As a matter of fact whatever version you have there is incorrect. Each note of that left hand is to be held an extra one beat until you reach the next note. Entirely wrong and much more complex than this this is how I thought it was to be played at first.
The version that you were reading from is entirely wrong those left handed notes are all to be tied as a matter of fact a lot of the right hand notes are to be tied to
6:40