Just listened to f# minor Book I. Wow. Chris, you are a Bach master. This a big step beyond your first Bach piano recordings, and the new recording equipment (and new piano?) is a boon. In the middle of the fugue you played a descending bass line, it sounded like a clavichord, made me think maybe it was your Gaveau, not a different instrument (Hamburg Steinway?).

Your Bach playing is profound, you make it sound like he had a modern grand piano, and wrote for it. I can follow all the voices without effort, and I love the pedaling that doesn't mar the nessacary clarity essential in Bach, but lets the piano be the piano, not a fake harpsichord. You understand him and counterpoint so well. Bravo!

Hi Chase, good to see you back ! And thanks for the feedback

I am not sure this is not way too much praise... Someone on Youtube seemed to think that Tureck and Gould were still better than me (Felipe found this posting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2cju5f9GQ , see the Comments section)... Then again, they're both dead and I am not

But you're certainly right in that these recordings are several classes up from my initial ones.
It is still the Gaveau, but with new strings. Together with the new Tascam recorder, it makes a huge difference. Though it was suggested that maybe the hammers need voicing by now.

With the help from the Google translator I got the meaning of that comment: "I like this interpretation rather than those of Glenn Gould ... or Chris Breemer... Thanks for uploading..." Wow, now you are abreast of Gould and Turreck, Chris

Hehe, quite funny isn't it.
All he says though is that Tureck is better than Gould and me. Could mean anything, he's probably just taking the p*ss

I just thought I'd say that I've been enjoying your WTC recordings lately.I think I've said this before, but I'm really amazed at how much you've advanced both technically and artistically in the three years I've been visiting these forums.They're a great improvement on your first set.
I'm trying to learn bwv 881 at the moment and the fugue is giving me some trouble.I think your recording of the fugue is very impressive.The prelude from 879 also caught my ear, just beautiful.Also the prelude from 859.In fact there's a lot to enjoy in every single one of them, they obviously mean a lot to you.

Thanks for that Tim
I am certainly not breezing through them like before. At least they can now hold their own with most other good recordings on the site.
I would not have made such improvement without PS and the members' critical feedback.
Funny how these pieces mean more and more to me the deeper I get into them. It's both a labor of love, and a job for life.

re: Prelude and Fugue no.13 Bk 1

Chris,

Wonderful character, the melodies sing out so well, the tone is truly sensitive to the character of the piece throughout both the Prelude and Fugue.
The statement of musical ideas is sincere.

The embellishments every now and then could be a bit more evenly played.

Very beautiful interpretation, the presentation is gentle but very moving.

Thanks,
Kaila

Thank you Kaila, that is great to hear
Yes the ornaments and trills.... it's usually those that trip me up however much I practice. One needs an instrument with lighter action. On my organ with its super-light keyboard I hardly ever botch up a trill.

Interestingly, I find that your piano sounds like a harpsichord in these recordings, most especially in the lower registers (LH stuff mostly). Or maybe it's a bit more accurate to say it sounds like a guitar in some places. Did you alter the recording sound in some way to produce this effect, or does your piano really sound like that?

I listened to both Book II sets since I am most familiar with them and I find them to be competent recordings with not much to complain about aside from maybe tempo which seems a bit ploddish to me at times (which can detract a bit from the energy of your performance). In some places I even hear some reflection which shows your love for the music. I thought I heard some read errors but upon checking my score and my GG recordings I found that they were rather GG's read errors.

I've noticed that too. Didn't do anything special for it. Though I have changed my recording position, and I am still not convinced that was a good thing to do. Although for Bach, the sound is quite appropriate.


My current Bach recordings are not supposed to have any read or other errors
Ploddish tempo, hmmmm.... I've come back from my race-against-the-clock approach to find a more lyrical and flexible style, which allows for some agogics or even slight rubato. I think it is an improvement but maybe not for the GG diehards.
Thanks for the feedback, I am glad these can at least be considered competent.

Yeah, I kinda like it. Bach is more fun to play on piano since you have such a range of expression, but that sound is interesting. It's like cheating, but I don't mind.


I agree, it's certainly an improvement from the previous approach.