Product Description
From The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2 BWV 870-893
In Bach's own words "..... for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already skilled in this study.....", we are literally invited by the great man himself, to enjoy playing his music in virtually any combination we like!
The Wind Quartet is a fitting vehicle for these two pieces from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2, namely the Prelude No.1 and the Fugue No.22.
The Prelude
Completely different from the Prelude that opens Book 1, which is mainly broken chords, this opening Prelude to Book 2 features a continuously flowing sequence of melodic ideas. According to Levinson, " few pieces of traditional music are more purely processive as this. It develops without a break or pause, without arrivals of significance, from beginning to end" Good to play as well!!
The Fugue
Of course this Fugue should be in the key of Bb Minor, but to avoid all those nasty Fb's and E#'s etc the key has been altered just to make the music flow a little better in this instrumental combination (imho!), coupled with the time signature of 3/2, this Fugue should prove interesting in rehearsal! The four voices are distributed throughout the parts, and at 101 bars, it is certainly one of Bach's longest, and definitely one of the most enjoyable to play, especially in a generous acoustic.
Also available here in Clarinet Quartet and Saxophone Quartet flavours!!
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