I listened to all these versions of the Well-Tampered Clavier

Solidly played, good dynamics, tempo, and (generally) rhythm. I think the prelude is a tad slow but the fugue is just right. There are some missing notes here and there (first and last par of the first part of the prelude for example), a couple of read errors and some slips, but nothing distracting. There are some places where you tend to rush or gloss over a tricky passage but rhythmically this is much better than anything I have heard from you before. Good job ! The voicing in the fugue could be more prominent but that is something that needs a lot of exposure to Bach.

The homely banter on the background is quite endearing but also distracting, especially right at the beginning and in the pause between the P and F (seems like Chaotica has copied and pasted in the middle, to fill up the gap, that so we hear your wife stuttering away). Pete's version does not have that. Shame about the revving car at the end of the fugue.

I am not too keen on Pete's reverb. It is terribly wet, making it sound like recorded in a swimming pool (pardon the pun). I'll have my go at this too, using by usual reverb which is more discreet, and post it. I'll also cut out the background chat from the beginning and middle. I am not sure if the bass boost and high cut are really worthwhile here.

Thanks Chaotica and PJF for your volunteer work !

Yes, I took a second from the very beginning because I didn't want to copy a part with piano reverb. Was a bad idea, it seems, but my sister was already sleeping so I couldn't relisten to this with high volume.

Heres the pair with CoolEdit 'Light Concert Hall' reverb, 3Db volume boost, but no additional equalizing. I replaced the noisy start with silence and inserted only a very short pause. The trend is that the fugue starts hard on the heels of the prelude, at least that is how I have recently been doing them. I think this reverb is not as wet as the one applied by Pete.

Hi Chris and Pete, both of your edited files are equally good. One is more solid touch than other but one also has more depth...... so I am happy with it.

Hi guys,

I went home last night re do the fugue only-took me 15 minutes. This time I have eliminated the rushness in the middle passage of fugue mentioned by Chris. I also further reinforced the "subject" and "answer".all vocings. I felt that I dnt want over doing it. When Bach wrote this was for harpsichord and organ. piano were not invented. If you hear the haricichord version of this, the voicings are not as clear as in piano.

Chris, I noticed the prelude LH no sound in the beginning-2 bar,,,,my touch was too light????

I use urtex version edited by Warrem Thompson(Australian Exam Board Director). This version also has the original photo copied version of bach hand written score in light brown colour ink?(very tidy, but hard to give a quick sight read). The score also comes with "analysis".

Tell you the truth, I have done this piece for my exams 13 years ago, but never had a chance to recorded. It was my first serious Bach playing 4 weeks to revamp this piece on recorder.

Chris, Pete, Chaotica thanks for helping me in learning the "sound editor", and I hope you liked my interpretation for the last time...

Ps. i self added two shakes at the end, but its my interpretation ok....but no one noticed it

This time no more car noise at the end. I have blown his car apart.

How would I know ????


This piece would not sound good at all on a recorder


Damn tooting right ! That'll teach him

This is surely better than the first version. Tempo and rhythm are steady. The first half is pretty solid, but in the second half there are a number of slips, misreadings, and hesitations which should perhaps be taken care of. Very decent Bach playing though.

I assume this is the "final version" that should go up the site ?

By all means, thank Chris......

The last version is up, and I deleted all others.

Bach - BWV 881 - Das Wolhtemperierte Clavier II - Prelude and Fugue No.11 in F minor