Background Johann Sebastian Bach: Well Tempered Clavier What is referred to as the Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) is actually two separate sets of compositions, arrayed as Book One and Book Two. Each “book” contains 24 sets of preludes and fugues: one prelude and fugue in each major and minor key. Book One is a mix-and-match collection that evolved from a series of preludes that Bach composed and compiled for his son Wilhem Friedmann in 1720. Over the next two years Bach extended and added to the collection, until – in 1722 – he went public with an album of 24 preludes and fugues. This first collection of 24 preludes and fugues – “Book One” – proved to be so popular that between 1738 and 1742 Bach composed a second set of 24 additional preludes and fugues, which was issued as “Book Two”. It was the WTC (Books One and Two) that kept Bach’s name alive during the decades of obscurity that followed his death in 1750. Throughout the second half of the eighteenth century and well into the nineteenth century, the WTC was considered to be the basic manual for keyboard training. Mozart was introduced to the Well-Tempered Clavier by his […]
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Robert Greenberg
Historian, Composer, Pianist, Speaker, Author
Archive for Patreon – Page 13
Last week, in the process of recommending recordings of Claude Debussy’s Préludes for Piano, I brought up the pianist Roger Woodward, whose recording of the Préludes I adore. The response I received from many of you was not unexpected but still shivered my timbers: “Roger WHO?” Yes: when I introduced Roger Woodward last week, I did so by calling him: “the greatest pianist in the world that you have probably (and sadly) never heard of.” THIS MUST END, at least among those who are discriminating enough to follow me. So here’s my game plan. I’m going to spend the remainder of this post ruminating on the depth of the pianistic talent pool, the fickleness of fame, and yes, something having to do with brassieres. I will return next week to address two recording YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT: Roger Woodward’s recording of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2 and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues. Let us begin by recognizing an almost terrifying truism: when it comes to wonderful pianists, the talent pool is deeper than the Marianas Trench. In last week’s post, I mentioned that – if I have to choose – my all-around favorite pianist is the Milan-born […]
Continue ReadingLast week, Patreon Patron Renato inquired: “So, what is Dr. Bob’s prescription for Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major D960 (I listen to Richter’s in Praga 1972) and for Debussy’s Prelude Book I (Michelangeli DG is my choice)? Thanks a lot. Cheers.” As we observed last week, both of these works are featured in my Great Courses survey “The 23 Greatest Solo Piano Works.” I dedicated last week’s “Dr. Bob Prescribes” to the Schubert Sonata; let’s now tackle the Debussy Préludes. An even cursory glance at the recordings currently available reveals a lot of highly regarded performances. Thus, a disclaimer: I am not a “collector” of performances (of cocktail shakers, yes, but that’s a conversation for another time). As a non-collector, I tend to stop buying recordings of a given work once I’ve found a satisfactory performance (or two, as in the case of Debussy’s Préludes). So in the end, I can only recommend to you those recordings I’ve been happy with over the years. See the prescription on Patreon
Continue ReadingI have managed to dig up and digitize a television advertisement for the first edition of my Teaching Company/The Great Courses survey “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” from 1993. It’s a bit painful for me to watch: I weighed 30 pounds less than I do now; I had all my hair (including a very large moustache); and I wore contacts. I looked good, but most painful of all, I looked young. When I recorded that first course in May of 1993, The Teaching Company had four full-time employees, including its founder, Tom Rollins. At the time, the company had just moved to its first “dedicated studio” in Springfield, Virginia, just south of Washington D.C.’s outer loop. Yes, it was a “dedicated studio”, but the company was still in its infancy, and the production values were crude (to put it mildly). I worked in front of a blue screen and a blackboard, read from a sheaf of notes in my hand, and used a small upright piano located on stage. The method by which we mastered the musical examples was particularly primitive. For that first course, our licensing agent sent me music on cassettes. I then dubbed the […]
Continue ReadingEarlier this week, my patron Renato inquired: “So, what is Dr. Bob’s prescription for Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major D960 (I listen to Richter’s in Praga 1972) and for Debussy’s Prelude Book I (Michelangeli DG is my choice)? Thanks a lot. Cheers.” These works were featured in my absurdly entitled but well-intentioned Great Courses survey “The 23 Greatest Solo Piano Works.” That they are featured indicates that I love them dearly; generally speaking, I only talk about music I love. (There is the occasional exception because sometimes a piece of music is so very bad that it just has to be discussed, like Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory, although once heard, such a piece of music cannot be unheard.) I’m going to address Renato’s question in two separate posts: here the Schubert B-flat and next week the Debussy Préludes. The Schubert Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major is a warm, expansive and lyric piece, composed in September of 1828, just two months before Schubert’s death on November 19. It is filled with long, song-like themes, a particular trademark of Schubert’s instrumental music. The temptation – particularly in its lengthy first movement – to succumb to the “leisurely” can be overwhelming, and succumb […]
Continue ReadingIt has been a week since my roll out at Patreon, and I have been awed and no small bit humbled by the response. I thank each and every one of you who have signed on. As per my listed Patreon benefits I would take this opportunity to list my “Principal” patrons and “Deities”: Principals: Gary Cohn Dr. Judith Davis Leigh O. Harper Ernie McWilliams James Rea William Mark Thompson Deities: Gregg Garbin Bennett Markel Mickey Urdea Lis Young A heads up on what will be appearing on my Patreon page over the course of the next week: I have managed to dig up and digitize a television advertisement for my Teaching Company/The Great Courses survey “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” from 1993. It’s a bit painful for me to watch: I weighed 30 pounds less than I do now; I had all my hair (including a very large moustache); and I wore contacts. I looked good, but most painful of all, I looked young. The production values back then in the early days of The Teaching Company were, well, let’s say minimal: I’m working from notes without a set, with only a blackboard and an upright […]
Continue ReadingWelcome to my new series, “Dr. Bob Prescribes”, in which I will “prescribe” recordings, books, events, videos, websites, etc. on a weekly basis, with the intention of improving our musical health and thus raising our spirits and making happier our souls. In conversation with my Patreon patrons Jane Varkonyi and Frank Schmidt, I recommended Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor as one of those works that, should we find ourselves stranded on that proverbial desert island, we would have to have for company. I would take the conversation a step further and recommend my numero uno favorite recording of not just the Brahms but Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat, which qualifies as another of my desert island works. (FYI, my desert island will require a large library, an air-conditioned listening room, a great hi-fi rig, and a well-stocked fridge and bar, because I have a lot of desert island works!) My absolutely favorite recording of both the Schumann and Brahms Piano Quintets is: 🤐🤐🤐🤐. Dang, but I hate being a tease! But for the remainder of this post – which names and describes my favorite recording and offers up as well both pertinent and anecdotal information about these extraordinary […]
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