Keith Jarrett: Bach – Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2 (2 CD, FLAC)

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Keith Jarrett
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Ecm Records
Size: 909 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: no

Disc 1:
01. Prelude And Fugue In C, BWV 870
02. Prelude And Fugue In C minor, BWV 871
03. Prelude And Fugue In C sharp, BWV 872
04. Prelude And Fugue In C sharp minor, BWV 873
05. Prelude And Fugue In D, BWV 874
06. Prelude And Fugue In D minor, BWV 875
07. Prelude And Fugue In E flat, BWV 876
08. Prelude And Fugue In D sharp minor, BWV 877
09. Prelude And Fugue In E, BWV 878
10. Prelude And Fugue In E minor, BWV 879
11. Prelude And Fugue In F, BWV 880
12. Prelude And Fugue In F minor, BWV 881

Disc 2:
01. Prelude And Fugue In F sharp, BWV 882
02. Prelude And Fugue In F sharp minor, BWV 883
03. Prelude And Fugue In G, BWV 884
04. Prelude And Fugue In G minor, BWV 885
05. Prelude And Fugue In A flat, BWV 886
06. Prelude And Fugue In G sharp minor, BWV 887
07. Prelude And Fugue In A, BWV 888
08. Prelude And Fugue In A minor, BWV 889
09. Prelude And Fugue In B flat, BWV 890
10. Prelude And Fugue In B flat minor, BWV 891
11. Prelude And Fugue In B, BWV 892
12. Prelude And Fugue In B minor, BWV 893

Simple, Clean, Cleansing Bach Part 2

This review is from: Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 / Keith Jarrett (Audio CD)
Keith Jarrett is such a fine musician that he, as a composer as well as a performer and a jazz interpreter as well as a classics interpreter, knows when to simply let the written notes be played the way they were written. His Bach is very straightforward: yes, he embellishes in keeping with the indications and musical period of Bach, but he never lets the embellishments sound as though they should call attention to the performer. Book One of the Well-Tempered Clavier is performed on the piano while Book Two is performed on the harpsichord. For this listener his piano keyboard Bach is more interesting than his Harpsichord Bach and I’m not at all certain why he elected to change instruments. But perhaps that is simply one more aspect of Jarrett’s exploration of works he deems important enough to spend his concentration and time reproducing.

One of the pleasures of Jarrett’s playing is his knowledge of how to bring a phrase to a close and for that matter how he prepares for the closing of a variation. It feels right, as though he has thought about Bach’s ideas and incorporated them into his own manner of performing. Both of these 2CD albums are very well recorded and make a solid addition to the library: piano keyboard Bach or harpsichord keyboard Bach – both make for repeated frequent listenings.