Playing Bach

When playing them, most interpretations are fairly fast for the prelude and slower with sharper articulation for the fugues, but then you have someone like Glenn Gould who playes the prelude slower and stacatto, and the fugue faster.

Also, as there are no dynamics - should we apply our own to the preludes and fugues or should they just be at a uniform dynamic?

And with regards to pedalling - of course Bach could never have written his pieces to include the pedal, but many people use them when playing his pieces. (especially pieces like the 1st prelude, WTC book 1). I personlly don't think the pedal sounds good with his preludes and sounds awful with the fugues, however many times some people have tried to convince me otherwise!

I just wondered what people think is the authentic way to play them - but then again, with these types of pieces should we be concerned with authenticity? When we play romantic pieces nothing stops us from personal interpretations ...

I am quite interested in what people have to say on this because for me, it's important for the audience to have a reaction to what you are playing, because when you perform in public it is for them and some of the time it is to present them with a different perspective and some of the time it is to entertain them. And I think discussions like this with different peoples' opinions can help shape our musicianship, which applies to both the way we approach performances and compositions.

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If you're going for authenticity, harpsichord is the way to go In my opinion, Bach on the piano is already a transcription, so a wide latitude should be due the interpreter. As long as nothing is terribly out of character there could be a myriad of acceptable approaches to make for a convincing Bach performance (on the piano, that is).

Yeah. If you're using a piano anyways, you might as well make use of the advantages it has over a harpsichord, such as flexible dynamics. Doesn't mean you have to play it like Brahms or like Debussy, doesn't mean you have to use dynamics excessively (although you certainly could), and if you don't like the sound of it with pedal, don't use it. But interpretation has always been part of (most) music, and in baroque much more so than in the following times. A baroque piece leaves you so many more freedoms than a romantic piece, so make use of it! It wasn't customary to write down everything in detail back then, it was expected of the performer to show some creativity.

"Just playing what's in the notes" would actually be as "unauthentic" as you could get.

Apart from that, I've always believed that performers are artists, not just "sound reproduction machines". Being creative is good! To me, Glen Gould's Bach playing is an excellent example of how you can approach old music very personally and creatively, while still "honouring the piece". While it's not how the pieces actually would have sounded in Bach's time, it's still "authentic" because it's Gould's own authentic interpretation of Bach's notes, that neither removes Bach's nor Gould's personality from the music.

Do whatever the fuck you want...

yeah gardener thats a really good point - I'd forgotten that baroque music was written in the bare minimum for the performers to embellish and show themselves off. (although there is a camp of people who don't agree with that)

Although I have to dispute your point that it gives you more freedom than other periods - what about romantic pieces, where you are invited by the vary nature of it's 'romanticism' to imbue them with your own emotions and improvise and enrich the pieces that you play in order to portray these feelings further?

Originally Posted by Corbin The Violist

Do whatever the fuck you want...

Actually, that's what I wanted to say.

Originally Posted by tonaltraveller

yeah gardener thats a really good point - I'd forgotten that baroque music was written in the bare minimum for the performers to embellish and show themselves off. (although there is a camp of people who don't agree with that)

Although I have to dispute your point that it gives you more freedom than other periods - what about romantic pieces, where you are invited by the vary nature of it's 'romanticism' to imbue them with your own emotions and improvise and enrich the pieces that you play in order to portray these feelings further?

Most romantic composers were pretty precise in writing down what they wanted to hear, from metronome markings, to dynamics, articulation, pedal use etc. Take in contrast a violin concerto by Vivaldi, or even more so a "prélude non mesuré" by Couperin and others where only the main notes are written down, in whole notes, and the whole rhythm (and ornamentation of course) is improvised by the performer. I'm not sure whether it is truly the "nature of romanticism" to imbue music with your own emotions, as in most cases the composer had a very clear (quite possibly emotional) idea that he wanted to be shown.

I never understood why so many people play Schumann more freely than Bach, even though Bach is a special case as he's certainly not a typical baroque composer. Between baroque and the 20th century, there is a clear tendency to remove more and more liberties of the performer by being more precise in notation, even though there are certain exceptions.

In fact, I find it weird, but although I adore Gould's Bach playing, I don't really like his recordings of more contemporary pieces, such as Berg's piano sonata and others (with the exception of Schoenberg's Suite for Piano). On the other hand, I haven't listened to as many contemporary pieces by Gould as I have of Bach, so I can't really say

I haven't heard the Berg sonata, but personally I love how he played Schoenberg and Webern. I absolutely can't stand his Brahms playing though.

Originally Posted by jujimufu

In fact, I find it weird, but although I adore Gould's Bach playing, I don't really like his recordings of more contemporary pieces, such as Berg's piano sonata and others (with the exception of Schoenberg's Suite for Piano). On the other hand, I haven't listened to as many contemporary pieces by Gould as I have of Bach, so I can't really say

Makes sense to me. I only recall hearing his recording of Schönberg's Op. 19, but in that he took plenty of liberties. And, perhaps unlike Bach, Schönberg's piano music doesn't really leave much room for that.