Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Favorite Recordings of the WTK book 2

I mostly listen to book 1

But what recordings do you like for the 2nd book? (I mean Bach's Well Tempered Klavier Book 2)

Daniel Barenboim. I wouldn't call him a genius based on these recordings, but he always plays the music in a very sensible no-bullshit way. It's like he knows what the music is about, and is happy playing it that way, not trying to be different for the sake of being different, nor playing just something that pops to mind. Or if you want clearer polyphony, with no such occasionally great volume-level differences between different voices found in Barenboim's rendering, and no sustain pedal, I suggest some harpsichord recording (I haven't got one myself, though I've intended to for some time).

Ooo, this sounds very promising (if you want the harpsichord recording):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000003ERR/

I listened to samples from the C minor fugue, and the C major prelude... Her tempo is very close to Barenboim's in the fugue, while I would recall Barenboim is a bit slower in the prelude, but he has the romantic piano, so that's expected...

Does anybody know much about different harpsichord recordings? Are there yet any around with the correct tuning? Is there even "correct tuning" (a yes or no will be enough: we won't want to hijack this thread)?

No. Here\'s the proof!

Edit: That site is a bit inconsistent, however. Note that it states:

that is, it states that A ranged up to 402.9 Hz in the 17th century, and then gives an example a whole tone higher!

Nonetheless, it seems that historical pitches were all over the map, depending upon geographic site (i.e., all over the map).

Richter.