The Well Tempered Clavier

Since being part of the 2014-2015 European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO) Rising Star scheme, pianist Aaron Pilsan has performed in illustrious concert venues across Europe and the U.S. as a soloist in recitals and with orchestras, as well as in chamber ensemble settings. An advocate for emerging pianists, he created the Pilsan Academy to assist with career development. In 2023, he issued a recording of solo piano works by Schumann and Jörg Widmann. Pilsan was named a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star in 2024.

Aaron Pilsan completes his recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier, five years after the first volume was praised by critics for its ardent, accurate and fluid interpretation. Twenty years lie between the two volumes; whilst the first is better known, 'the second book is more playful, but also more accomplished. It goes further harmonically and also demonstrates extraordinary harmonic invention with original and often exotic harmonies. The best example of what differentiates the two books is the fugue in D sharp minor in the second book, a piece whose boldness and harmonic originality never ceases to enthral and astonish me,' says the Austrian pianist, who again demonstrates his fascination for the composer: 'What I love most about Bach's music is that he expresses everything that goes to make up our lives, but in perfect order.'

Following his recording of the first book of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier released last year (BIS-2621), which was praised as 'a pleasurable benchmark for anyone seeking a traversal that honours every detail of the music' (Gramophone), harpsichordist Masato Suzuki now offers us his interpretation of the second book of Bach's masterly cycle of preludes and fugues. No other works from the baroque period have been as cherished, performed and studied as these collections, the objectives of which were musical, theoretical and didactic.

There is a clear attempt in this recording to make a difference or to be noted for being different. Bible to us, not in the note-by-note Latin of Hewitt of Perahia, but in the blazing vernacular. This is highest music of High Baroque played by Akiko Kuwagata.

There are no songs for Prelude and Fugue No. 15, Bwv 884: Prelude (the Well-tempered Clavier, Book Ii) by Tzimon Barto. You can click here to post the lyrics to this song.

The American pianist Tzimon Barto offers up his own vision of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier: forty-eight preludes and fugues rising through all the keys and resounding from the inside with their counterpoint, full of nuance and poetry.

After the success of her Goldberg Variations and a disc devoted to Rameau’s harpsichord pieces, Céline Frisch, harpsichordist and co-founder of the Café Zimmermann ensemble, returns to the recital with a programme devoted entirely to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. For this recording, Céline Frisch draws on her ‘bedside’ music. She thus reminds us that, beyond an exercise for advancing his technique (and we are well familiar with Bach’s strictness in this art), The Well-Tempered Clavier is also a work of pure pleasure, like a constant rediscovery: a landscape that one never tires of admiring.

Following his acclaimed recording of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s complete solo keyboard works (RES10214), harpsichordist Steven Devine returns to Resonus to record one of the great pinnacles of the Baroque keyboard repertoire, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Clavier).

For this new release, pianist Annhelena Schluter invites the listener into her world of admiration for J. S. Bach as she performs Das wohltemperierte Klavier I. Annhelena says of this project: “The pedal point of holiness that underlies Bach’s music is mixed with our world like a recurring ostinato in normal everyday life. His musical message is one of comfort. My work as a musician is based on experiences, memories and a sense of purpose; not on mere knowledge. Johann Sebastian is my role model; his works are based on goodness energy, joy and patience… Bach’s Wohltemperiertes Klavier extends to the heavens, always upward-looking, beckoning us at every cadence, at every fresh start, in every pause, constantly reiterating the invitation.” Annhelena Schluter has studied in Cologne, Wurzburg, and the United States. She continually performs in masterclasses, festivals and concerts across Europe and the USA. Not only is she an accomplished pianist, she has also won several writing competitions for her lyrics, poems, and songs, and she has founded several music ensembles.