While Friedrich Gulda's recordings of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier have long been held in high esteem and remain readily available on CD, his other Bach recordings are rarities. This Berlin Classics CD is the first release of tapes Gulda made at home and in other locations between 1978 and 1979 while playing Bach on two clavichords, a Widmayer and a Neupert. Even though the mono tapes are rather variable in their state of preservation and marred by some background noises, analog hum, and other flaws, the music can ...
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While Friedrich Gulda's recordings of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier have long been held in high esteem and remain readily available on CD, his other Bach recordings are rarities. This Berlin Classics CD is the first release of tapes Gulda made at home and in other locations between 1978 and 1979 while playing Bach on two clavichords, a Widmayer and a Neupert. Even though the mono tapes are rather variable in their state of preservation and marred by some background noises, analog hum, and other flaws, the music can still be appreciated for its piquant articulation, intellectual clarity, and bravura technique. The original recordings were in fragile condition and had to be carefully cleaned and prepared for digital remastering, yet some defects have been preserved for the sake of presenting Gulda's performances as he intended them, with the fullest possible sound. These excerpts from the Well-Tempered Klavier, Book II, the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, and the English Suite No. 2 are rightly...
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