The Prelude and Fugue in G minor, the next in the sequence of the '48' by J. S. Bach

Prelude And Fugue In G Minor

The next in the series from Book 1 of the '48' Preludes and Fugues by 
J S Bach

Prelude And Fugue In A Flat Major

The A flat major Prelude and Fugue is a lively concoction, a boisterous prelude in 3-time, initially featuring triadic chords and rhythmic, arpeggiated melodic figures in a style reminiscent of Bach's own Italian Concerto. The arpeggiated figures continue throughout, with running semiquaver movement developing two-part counterpoint, the chordal features punctuating the texture now and again and at the conclusive final passage. The following fugue is quite a flowing theme, 7 even quaver notes based around the tonic triad, the character of the piece as a whole perhaps just as much defined by the unfolding semiquaver countersubject....this countersubject develops a life of its own, though allowing the subject back in in various keys along the way, usually in paired entries, as at the opening we just heard. Towards the end, the subject asserts itself with 4 entries in a row, flowing from bass to soprano, bar on bar. As we have seen in other works, it is as if Bach has shown us fully what is possible with the subject, and can therefore bring the piece to an end, which he does indeed here, with a final, satisfying and affirmative statement in the top part.

Prelude And Fugue In A Flat, Commentary

The Prelude and Fugue in G sharp minor, the next in the series of works by J. S. Bach

Prelude and Fugue In G sharp minor

The next Prelude and Fugue in my sequence from Bach’s ‘48’ is in the key of G sharp minor, and I’ve been asked why G sharp, and not A flat like the corresponding major piece on the same note. There is a fairly simple numerical explanation ...the minor key on a particular note is three degrees flatter (3 more flats or 3 fewer sharps) than its corresponding major. For example, C major has no sharps or flats, C minor 3 flats. Now, A flat major has a key signature of 4 flats, so A flat minor would be 7 flats. This is a perfectly valid key, but if during the course of the piece the music modulates further towards the flatter side, the result would be a proliferation of double-flats which becomes tricky for the reader and performer. So G sharp minor, with 5 sharps, is a more practical option, and becomes the naturally preferred choice.
So, what of the piece itself? The Prelude is built around the initial right hand figure of the first bar, undulating semiquavers leading to a downward scale of three notes, with a slightly yearning quality. This figure moves immediately to the left hand, but its shape and pattern are incorporated into the unfolding contrapuntal texture, sometimes in inversion, but always with expressive intent. The Fugue is also richly textured, in 4 parts, an elongated subject over two bars, so the full richness only occurring from the 7th bar onwards. There are sequential episodes, some with chordal punctuations, onward momentum also helped by syncopated counter-phrases and more scalic movement as the piece progresses, though finishing with a grander and more sonorous final coda.

Commentary on Prelude and Fugue in G sharp minor

The next in the series of Preludes and Fugues from the '48' by J S Bach

Prelude And Fugue In A Major

For the next recording of Bach’s wonderful ‘48’ Preludes and Fugues, we reach the key of A major, a bright and positive key in Bach’s hands, one he uses in sonatas, and concertos, both instrumental and for the keyboard. I have always enjoyed playing the buoyant Harpsichord Concerto in this key! 

This Prelude is short and sweet, but not without very interesting contrapuntal detail. Listen to the busy opening melody... This melody, in the right hand (A) is counterbalanced by two other ideas, one based on an easily distinguishable downward chromatic scale of 4 notes, followed by leaps which represent the bass line and underpin the harmonic flow (C), the other a jagged, syncopated figure in the middle voice which drives the movement forwards (B). I’ll just show you those two ideas, and then how they combine with the melody. The melody is given altogether 6 times, in various of the 3 independent parts, but always with the other ideas in tow, in different areas of the texture, and demonstrating perfectly what is known as invertible counterpoint. In the 6 renditions of the tune, (in a few different keys and interspersed with a few short episodes), the parts, listed from the top, go ABC/BCA/CAB, then ABC/BCA/ACB. Very clever! And full marks if you manage to identify some of these textures, though it will probably take more than one hearing!!

The fugue has its fascinations in terms of form, too, an unusual winding, sinewy subject in triple compound time, based on a sequence of ascending fourths, with a characteristic detached single note to start. The fugue works itself through the exposition, but then combines with a new idea, running semiquavers injecting energy and momentum. The opening calmer material returns for a while, but semiquavers return to cap the movement off in some style.

Prelude and Fugue in A major, commentary

The next work in the sequence of Preludes and Fugues from Book 1 of J. S. Bach's '48'.

Prelude and Fugue In A minor

Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor is a monumental piece, an upbeat prelude followed by a characterful and weighty fugue.
The prelude trips along with arpeggiated figures over an initial tonic pedal, the melody then passing to the left hand whilst the right hand develops a more running scalic motif following fuller chords. Ideas get passed around in sequence, and towards the end the bass line gets lower and lower, mirroring the right hand scalic movement downwards, and reaching the lowest note on the keyboard before another tonic pedal signals the final decorated and satisfying conclusion.
The grand fugue is in 3 distinct sections which I have delineated by changing manuals thus varying the colour. It is a long subject, and is one of those in two halves, each of which has a shape and sequence of its own, yet follows the pattern we have seen before of question and answer. The ‘question’ is built up on a simple upward scale of three notes, extended in sequence, then followed by a turn and a leap on the dominant chord... The ‘answer’ inverts the turn in sequence before winding back to the tonic....
Now, the fact that the subject has that triadic scale pattern means that it lends itself perfectly to canonic treatment at the half-bar, which Bach introduces in the second section of the piece. I can show you how snugly that fits together!.. The subject is also highly suitable for inversion…, and after the initial exposition of the 4 fugal voices, ending in the dominant key, he cleverly gives us a second exposition of the inverted version, in 4 parts again, this time ending with a cadence in the tonic key. This now is the signal for section 2, the change of texture noted above, and the fugue is now developed with two voices in canon each time it appears, first in its original direction, but then, after a cadence in the relative major of C, in inversion and also canon. Bach even finds time to slip in a canon at the fifth rather than the octave! Another structural cadence in D minor signals the final section of the work, in which the parts build up again from the bottom, combining both canon, and then inverted canon, and the harmonies becoming rich and chromatic, the texture punctuated by dramatic chords and telling rests, before the piece reaches its conclusion in a definitive coda over a final tonic pedal. A remarkable work!

Commentary A Minor

The Prelude and Fugue in B flat major is an iconic piece, one of the better known in this wonderful set. The Prelude is toccata-like in its broken arpeggiated chords, interspersed with extended scalic ideas, the freely-flowing style somewhat reminiscent of the older Baroque Master and great influence on Bach, Dieterich Buxtehude. Grand chords signal a still freer scalic journey, before a final upward arpeggio flourish takes us rippling to the top of the keyboard. The following Fugue has a lengthy subject, an elastic opening stretching the intervals, but then with tumbling semiquavers and repeated motifs providing characteristic figuration for the rest of the piece, the counter-subject itself also suggesting an inversion of the opening bar of the subject. In its relatively straightforward yet concentrated form and content, the fugue provides a suitably reassuring counterpoise to the drama of the Prelude.

Prelude And Fugue B Flat

Prelude & Fugue B Flat Major Commentary

Hi, everyone. Week 3 of my postings, and in a moment I shall be playing the Prelude and Fugue in C minor, the second piece in the series of the ‘48’, from the famous collection ‘Das wohltemperierte Klavier’. 

But what does the word Klavier mean, in Bach’s time?  Today the German word means piano, but in the 18th century, it was a generic term indicating a variety of keyboard instruments, most typically harpsichord or clavichord, but not excluding the organ either.  The choice of which particular instrument should be used in the ‘48’ has been one of much conjecture amongst baroque scholars and interpreters.  Some of the pieces seem ideally suited to the harpsichord, others to the more sustained tones of the organ, whilst others lend themselves to the intimate and subtle nuances of the clavichord.  The pieces have been recorded on all three instruments individually, and sometimes in a combination, and there are plenty of versions on the modern piano, as well as some on its earlier precursor, the Fortepiano, developed through the 18th Century.  The arguments have doubtless been weighed amongst academics, but essentially for me there is no ‘correct’ way to perform them.  Regardless of the instrument, it is the performer who should aim to bring out the heart of the music with due integrity and sincerity. 

For the Prelude and fugue in C minor, I am using my harpsichord, which seems to be apt for the busy semiquaver figuration in the prelude, and the sprightly, spiky rhythms of the fugue.  You’ll remember the first Prelude with its repeated patterns in each bar. This Prelude is very similar in that respect, also following, with its implied chords, a harmonic journey, though its spirit is altogether more agitated...  Note how the minor key lends an almost dangerous air to the Prelude.  Later, the form becomes a little freer, as a ‘Presto’ section links to an ornamented Adagio, after which a little coda brings us back to the original speed with a single line of arpeggiated movement, before finishing on a sort of musical upturn, a question mark inviting us to listen on.  And the Fugue does indeed follow naturally on, taking the last note of the prelude as its first.  The fugue subject itself is a sort of ‘ready, steady, go’ theme: ready...steady...go!....followed by a scalic flourish over a downward octave which becomes the counter-subject to the next voice entering.  

Whereas the fugue in c major was all sinewy lines, the  c minor by contrast is lively and angular.  The subjects do not subtly interweave, but are spaced apart with several episodes, often in sequential patterns, using the motifs from the subject and the scalic counter subject with onward purpose and real drive, right up to the last statement of the subject,which forms a sort of coda, accompanying chords over a tonic (c) pedal in the left hand, giving a terrific sense of finality. 

The Prelude and fugue in c minor.

Bach - Prelude and Fugue 1.2 in C minor with commentary

Bach - Prelude and Fugue in C minor BWV847

Prelude And Fugue In E Flat Minor

The Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 860, the next in the series from Book 1 of the '48' Preludes and Fugues by J S Bach

Prelude And Fugue In G Major

A series of informal recordings for my friends and musical acquaintances, a way of keeping in touch musically at a time when words are often less than adequate, beginning with pieces from that most famous of keyboard collections, 'Das Wohltemperiertes Klavier' by J S Bach, the Preludes and Fugues in every major and minor  key, better-known as the '48'.

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