Product Description
J. S. Bach completed the 24 preludes and fugues that make up the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier in 1722 in Cöthen, where much of his other important instrumentalchamber music was written. The twenty-four segments go through all of the major and minor keys, with an prelude which explores a single texture or figuration and a contrasting fugue in either 2, 3, 4 or 5 voices. In this arrangement, the different voices are either shared by the four instruments or, in the case of the five voices of the Fugue in Bb minor, implied through arpeggios in the alto and tenor voices. Care must be taken to make these implied chords
sound through discretely sustaining these voices through resonance.
The preludes are generally in relatively free improvisatory forms which explore different types of baroque devises, including italianate keyboard figuration, arioso ornamented melodies with ostinato accompaniments, and more abstract forms. Two of the preludes are especially notable: the stately harmonic progression of the First prelude in C major, one of Bachs most well-known works, and the gigantic prelude and double fugue of the Eb Major prelude.
The fugues represent an exploration of all styles, ranging from the Ricacare in the Fugue no. 4 in c# minor and the use of augmentation, canon and inversion in no. 8 in Eb minor.
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