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this is an extension of some other thread, it deserves all attention, instead of being a mere byproduct, so:
What are your opinions about playing J.S.Bach on the piano, at all/with,without pedal/dynamics/'interpretation'/speed/ etc.

I play it, usually, the way that I think sounds the best to me. Sometimes I will use a pedal, but sometimes I dont.

I usually do keep it at a fairly consistent tempo, unless its an organ piece, or another instruments piece, then I ad my own dynamics to how others play it on the other instrument.

I play the Goldbergs f.i. totally without, no problem, I'm in a different state of mind as a pianist, well, not a 'pianist' at all, a devote Bach-addict, but in the Partita's I'd like to use a bit of the right foot now and then, very inconsistent, agree..

I wonder which one that might be....

I'm not a purist about this. I have no objections to the judicious use of pedal. The harpsichord has different resonance characteristics from a piano, and in places a little help from the pedal allows for better and more accurate playing than a crabbed finger legato. On the other hand, I don't particularly think much of heavily pedaled and blurred Bach. I just find the sound unappealing.

Why not. If you want no pedal and no dynamics why would you play it on piano anyway? You'd be better off with harpsichord and clavichord.

I think different arguments and ideas are valid -- not only because we don't know what Bach would have thought, but because various different approaches work, if done well.

?

("for instance"?)

I like my Bach to sound clean and unblurred so I try to refrain from using more than a little pedal. I do try to "finger pedal" as much as possible.

I agree on the harpsichord having a different resonance, and a different singing tendency, so the argument that a harpsichord resonates like a no pedal piano, isn't fully true.

I mentioned elsewhere that I recently had an opportunity to play Bach on an organ. My efforts to avoid the pedal, finger pedal and stick to the nuances in the score really paid off. Unlike on the piano, the sustained notes continued to play and sounded fantastic to my ears. Had I depended more on the pedal, I don't know if I would have been able to pull this off.

I don't know if this is in reference to my post, but if it is then I think you have misunderstood what I said. I did not say that a harpsichord resonates like a no-pedal piano. In fact, I was claiming rather the opposite. A piano's sound tends to cut off quite sharply. The dampers usually work all too well! In a sense, judicious use of the pedal can help a pianist avoid awkward and crabbed finger legato while maintaining the musical line. I just don't see this as a sufficient argument for 'anything goes.'

I think you misunderstood mine too. I said a Piano does not react like a harpsichord. Maybe a sustain pedal on a harpsichord can help certain things. But a piano will never sound or react like a harpsichord. Different dampers, and ways of producing sound all together, so different effects will occur.

This may appear to be "too expert", but wait until the end of the post. I spent many decades playing Bach on the piano, I then spent two decades playing Bach on the harpsichord. I have performed in public on both instruments. The last decade or so have seen me return exclusively to the piano (couldn't afford 2 high quality instruments) so I now play Bach on the piano having extensively learned how to play him on the hapsichord.
So, I have a deep experience of both. The result is (with one exception), whatever works for your conception of Bach, that particular piece and your instrument. The exception? Part playing. You cannot "bring out" the subject of a fugue - in terms of dynamics - on a harpsichord, only by articulation and intention. So I don't attempt to on the piano. "Intention"? Well, I believe that if we focus on an area of the music - say the appearance of a theme in the bass - it will sound differently to when we just play all the music without that differentiation. Doesn't necessarily have to be "brought out" dynamically. Fugue subjects don't have to shout out their appearance.
Basically, know the tools - your instrument, your technique, your perception of the work, your ears - and produce what you want to in whatever way you can. We realise Bach on the piano, particularly the modern grand, he did not write for it. (Unlike Beethoven, who probably did have a vision of instruments far more powerful than the ones he wrote for.) So employ your resources and enjoy the results.

Didn't Bach prefer the Clavichord to the harpsichord anyway?

(god do I hate harpsichord haha)

I'm interested to hear other people's viewpoints on this. I was taught to bring out the motif when it appears. This doesn't mean shouting it out. The goal is to have it sing above the others.

Angelina I'm not crazy about the sound of a harpsichord myself. To my ears, all that plucking overpowers the tones.

Skeletons at a party dancing in the dark...... that's what I associate it with haha

... or as someone else said : "Skeletons (doing it - (this is a family forum, after all!)) on a tin roof."

Regards,

He may have personally liked playing the clavichord the most, but that doesn't mean he was writing with it in mind when composing any specific work, does it? After all, most clavichords are so quiet that they just don't work in public performance. Bach didn't write any clavichord concertos, after all.

That may be true, but since I currently have neither unlimited funds for instrument purchases nor unlimited space in which to house them, I do these anachronistic things with my piano.

The Beecham quote that I know is "The sound of a harsichord - two skeletons c*p*lating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm."