Price: £32.00 inc. VAT (£27.23 ex. VAT)
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Release Date: 18-11-09
Label: Celestial Harmonies
Catalog Number: 14281-5
Barcode: 13711428155
Musical Style: Classical
When a musician of the rank and status of Roger Woodward decides to record Bach's complete Well-Tempered Clavier at the age of 65, one could see a symbolic connection here, keeping in mind that Bach passed away at 65; the pianist senses responsibility for the continuation of tradition. Moreover, Woodward sees an additional obligation to add new life to the music through his unique style of interpretation. With this, he is in the best of company indeed: It had been pointed out repeatedly - since his release of BWV 903, the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue - that Woodward's Bach is the most exciting since Glenn Gould. However, one ought not to misunderstand Woodward as iconoclast; his understanding of Bach is minted by tradition and above all respectful, especially showing such respect to those who set standards during the first century of recording technology. Although Woodward named it 'a defining moment' when he received the first finished copies of his Well-Tempered Clavier, he hastens to point out that one has to see him as the eternal student whose search for truth in music cannot end.
If one compares Woodward's reference recording of both books of Debussy's Préludes (Celestial Harmonies 13279-2) with his complete recording of both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier on 5 CDs, one winds up with the identical understanding of the works albeit having traveled in opposite directions. Was it Woodward's intention to find the structure (Woodward says 'the geometry') in Debussy, taking passion as a given, so is his way to Bach the reverse: He accepts the structure as a given and embarks on the search for passion.
In both instances, one receives as the result a balanced however passionate interpretation where structure and expression exist with equal rights, as should be the case in all great music. It is something like the heart of great Flamenco: The ideal and complete merging of total discipline and precision with the passion which only can give true life to music.
When Woodward was searching for the 'sacred cantilena' in Chopin's Nocturnes (Celestial Harmonies 14260-2), he rests his search for a fleeting moment with the 'legato cantabile' which can only be played as such on a modern grand piano (here a Hamburg Steinway D, dating from the early 1980s).
Surely what Woodward said about Hans Otte and his 48-part magnum opus 'Book of Hours' (Celestial Harmonies 13259-2) is equally true in the case of Bach: That some music doesn't open up through practice alone but only through reflection as it is philosophy in the end.
The complete edition of Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier on 2 CDs contains the first part of an 80-page essay by Roger Woodward, 'In Search of a Performance Practice', in German and English as well as the autographs of Book I as high-quality facsimiles; for the first time, the lost pages have been replaced by contemporary music-set versions, based on the best available printed editions. It is thus the most complete publication of the Well-Tempered Clavier ever. Woodward had - whenever performance issues surfaced - throughout the recording process always consulted the autographs as the first and last instance.
| 1 | Präludium Nr. 1 C-Dur BWV 846 | 01:59 |
| 2 | Fuge Nr. 1 C-Dur BWV 846 | 02:15 |
| 3 | Präludium Nr. 2 c-Moll BWV 847 | 02:00 |
| 4 | Fuge Nr. 2 c-Moll BWV 847 | 01:39 |
| 5 | Präludium Nr. 3 Cis-Dur BWV 848 | 01:13 |
| 6 | Fuge Nr. 3 Cis-Dur BWV 848 | 02:20 |
| 7 | Präludium Nr. 4 cis-Moll BWV 849 | 03:40 |
| 8 | Fuge Nr. 4 cis-Moll BWV 849 | 04:03 |
| 9 | Präludium Nr. 5 D-Dur BWV 850 | 01:23 |
| 10 | Fuge Nr. 5 D-Dur BWV 850 | 02:05 |
| 11 | Präludium Nr. 6 d-Moll BWV 851 | 01:24 |
| 12 | Fuge Nr. 6 d-Moll BWV 851 | 02:30 |
| 13 | Präludium Nr. 7 Es-Dur BWV 852 | 03:46 |
| 14 | Fuge Nr. 7 Es-Dur BWV 852 | 02:08 |
| 15 | Präludium Nr. 8 es-Moll BWV 853 | 03:59 |
| 16 | Fuge Nr. 8 dis-Moll BWV 853 | 05:48 |
| 17 | Präludium Nr. 9 E-Dur BWV 854 | 01:57 |
| 18 | Fuge Nr. 9 E-Dur BWV 854 | 01:21 |
| 19 | Präludium Nr. 10 e-Moll BWV 855 | 01:21 |
| 20 | Fuge Nr. 10 e-Moll BWV 855 | 01:19 |
| 21 | Präludium Nr.11 F-Dur BWV 856 | 01:01 |
| 22 | Fuge Nr. 11 F-Dur BWV 856 | 01:20 |
| 23 | Präludium Nr. 12 f-Moll BWV 857 | 02:04 |
| 24 | Fuge Nr. 12 f-Moll BWV 857 | 04:39 |
| 1 | Präludium Nr. 13 Fis-Dur BWV 858 | 01:39 |
| 2 | Fuge Nr. 13 Fis-Dur BWV 858 | 02:49 |
| 3 | Präludium Nr. 14 fis-Moll BWV 859 | 01:05 |
| 4 | Fuge Nr. 14 fis-Moll BWV 859 | 04:20 |
| 5 | Präludium Nr. 15 G-Dur BWV 860 | 00:56 |
| 6 | Fuge Nr. 15 G-Dur BWV 860 | 03:03 |
| 7 | Präludium Nr. 16 g-Moll BWV 861 | 01:35 |
| 8 | Fuge Nr. 16 g-Moll BWV 861 | 02:10 |
| 9 | Präludium Nr. 17 As-Dur BWV 862 | 01:21 |
| 10 | Fuge Nr. 17 As-Dur BWV 862 | 02:55 |
| 11 | Präludium Nr. 18 gis-Moll BWV 863 | 01:24 |
| 12 | Fuge Nr. 18 gis-Moll BWV 863 | 03:05 |
| 13 | Präludium Nr. 19 A-Dur BWV 864 | 01:36 |
| 14 | Fuge Nr. 19 A-Dur BWV 864 | 02:40 |
| 15 | Präludium Nr. 20 a-Moll BWV 865 | 01:07 |
| 16 | Fuge Nr. 20 a-Moll BWV 865 | 04:26 |
| 17 | Präludium Nr. 21 B-Dur BWV 866 | 01:23 |
| 18 | Fuge Nr. 21 B-Dur BWV 866 | 01:44 |
| 19 | Präludium Nr. 22b-Moll BWV 867 | 02:26 |
| 20 | Fuge Nr. 22 b-Moll BWV 867 | 03:09 |
| 21 | Präludium Nr 23, H-Dur BWV 868 | 01:19 |
| 22 | Fuge Nr. 23 H-Dur BWV 868 | 02:44 |
| 23 | Präludium Nr. 24 h-Moll BWV 869 | 05:34 |
| 24 | Fuge Nr. 24 h-Moll BWV 869 | 08:47 |
“Another Well-Tempered Clavier? And how serious a competitor can Roger Woodward be to Angela Hewitt, Ashkenazy et al? As it turns out, he is a very serious competitor, delivering one of the most sensitive and considered acounts to have come my way. Even if you have one or even two of the fine parade of recordings to have emerged in recent years, you won't be sorry if you add this to the shelf.” - Gramophone Magazine/Feb 2010 - gramophone.co.uk
Currently resident in San Francisco, Roger Woodward performs with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York, Los Angeles and Israel Philharmonics, Orchestre de Paris, the Cleveland Orchestra, London orchestras and European Community Gustav Mahler Jugend-orchester, with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Paavo Berglund, Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Eliahu Inbal, James Judd, Eric Leinsdorf, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Witold Rowicki, Walter Susskind, Georg Tintner, Edo de Waart, and Hans Zender.
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