Well here it is, the «Holy Grail» and «Old Testament» of keyboard literature. It does not really make sense to post yet another recording of the WTC, and by an amateur who is barely scratching the surface of this priceless music. But hey, there is worse stuff on YouTube, and I am somewhat proud of these recordings from 2009-2014. While flawed in many ways, they are many times better than my first recording (from 2007-2008 I think).
I am much indebted to the good folks at Piano Society, especially to Andreas Pfaul, for their stern but honest feedback and their many useful suggestions which enabled me to do a much better job the second time round.
I know Ill want to improve on these one day, even the greats do. This music is so much better than anyone could ever play it — Bach is always ahead of you, beckoning, challenging, and leading the way. He is both a hard task master and a gentle teacher. Sheesh, I can get really religious about Bach :) No other composer does that to me. I would think myself weird if I did not know that many people feel the same.
I never took any video footage for these. My apologies for being a lazy sod and not providing imagery or sheets to go along with the music. This just seems too much work for such a large video. And anyway, one should concentrate on the music rather than watching pictures or checking notes against the score :) At least Ill provide the titles and starting times as usual. Let me know what you think!
Bach — Das Wolhtemperierte Clavier, Book I (ca. 1722)
00:00:10 BWV 846 — Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C major
00:04:20 BWV 847 — Prelude and Fugue No.2 in C minor
00:07:33 BWV 848 — Prelude and Fugue No.3 in C sharp major
00:11:26 BWV 849 — Prelude and Fugue No.4 in C sharp minor
00:19:58 BWV 850 — Prelude and Fugue No.5 in D major
00:23:39 BWV 851 — Prelude and Fugue No.6 in D minor
00:27:03 BWV 852 — Prelude and Fugue No.7 in E flat major
00:33:34 BWV 853 — Prelude and Fugue No.8 in E flat minor
00:43:13 BWV 854 — Prelude and Fugue No.9 in E major
00:46:03 BWV 855 — Prelude and Fugue No.10 in E minor
00:49:41 BWV 856 — Prelude and Fugue No.11 in F major
00:53:28 BWV 857 — Prelude and Fugue No.12 in F minor
00:59:33 BWV 858 — Prelude and Fugue No.13 in F sharp major
01:03:57 BWV 859 — Prelude and Fugue No.14 in F sharp minor
01:08:30 BWV 860 — Prelude and Fugue No.15 in G major
01:12:34 BWV 861 — Prelude and Fugue No.16 in G minor
01:17:32 BWV 862 — Prelude and Fugue No.17 in A flat major
01:21:17 BWV 863 — Prelude and Fugue No.18 in G sharp minor
01:26:54 BWV 864 — Prelude and Fugue No.19 in A major
01:30:29 BWV 865 — Prelude and Fugue No.20 in A minor
01:36:14 BWV 866 — Prelude and Fugue No.21 in B flat major
01:39:29 BWV 867 — Prelude and Fugue No.22 in B flat minor
01:46:01 BWV 868 — Prelude and Fugue No.23 in B major
01:49:41 BWV 869 — Prelude and Fugue No.24 in B minor
Bach — Das Wolhtemperierte Clavier, Book II (ca. 1742)
02:00:33 BWV 870 — Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C major
02:04:46 BWV 871 — Prelude and Fugue No.2 in C minor
02:09:29 BWV 872 — Prelude and Fugue No.3 in C sharp major
02:13:31 BWV 873 — Prelude and Fugue No.4 in C sharp minor
02:20:32 BWV 874 — Prelude and Fugue No.5 in D major
02:31:23 BWV 875 — Prelude and Fugue No.6 in D minor
02:35:05 BWV 876 — Prelude and Fugue No.7 in E flat major
02:40:28 BWV 877 — Prelude and Fugue No.8 in E flat minor
02:49:15 BWV 878 — Prelude and Fugue No.9 in E major
02:59:10 BWV 879 — Prelude and Fugue No.10 in E minor
03:07:06 BWV 880 — Prelude and Fugue No.11 in F major
03:13:15 BWV 881 — Prelude and Fugue No.12 in F minor
03:20:03 BWV 882 — Prelude and Fugue No.13 in F sharp major
03:25:54 BWV 883 — Prelude and Fugue No.14 in F sharp minor
03:35:16 BWV 884 — Prelude and Fugue No.15 in G major
03:39:58 BWV 885 — Prelude and Fugue No.16 in G minor
03:45:23 BWV 886 — Prelude and Fugue No.17 in A flat major
03:52:39 BWV 887 — Prelude and Fugue No.18 in G sharp minor
04:00:47 BWV 888 — Prelude and Fugue No.19 in A major
04:04:58 BWV 889 — Prelude and Fugue No.20 in A minor
04:12:10 BWV 890 — Prelude and Fugue No.21 in B flat major
04:20:14 BWV 891 — Prelude and Fugue No.22 in B flat minor
04:28:38 BWV 892 — Prelude and Fugue No.23 in B major
04:34:59 BWV 893 — Prelude and Fugue No.24 in B minor
From the Chapelle de la Trinité, Château de Fontainebleau,
13th-century Christian hymn to Mary «Stabat Mater» by Giavanni Battista Pergolesi
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0:00 Stabat Mater
3:19 «Stabat Mater Dolorosa»
7:15 «Cujus animam gementem»
8:51 «O quam tristis et afflicta»
11:17 «Quae moerebat et dolebat»
13:37 «Quis est homo»—«Pro peccatis suae gentis...»
16:23 «Vidit suum dulcem natum»
19:30 «Eja mater fons amoris»
21:31 «Fac ut ardeat cor meum»
24:13 «Sancta mater, istud agas»
29:42 «Fac ut portem Christi mortem»
33:03 «Inflammatus et accensus»
35:24 «Quando corpus morietur» — «Amen...»
Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night one year before dying.
Chopin composed his popular Nocturne when he was about twenty.
it does not matter if you think that it is too late for you or that you still have a lot of time...you have to decide whether you are Chopin or van Gogh.
The idea behind these videos is coming from a research published by the Psychology Department of Berkeley University studying the relation between colors, emotions and how external stimuli are impacting decision making.
The study results demonstrate a strong correlation between faster music in minor tone and the choice from participants of colors from that were saturated, yellower and lighter whereas a slower and minor music produced the opposite pattern (choice of desaturated, darker and bluer colors).
Based on these findings, we wanted to create synesthesia in our videos and trigger more intense and long-lasting emotions in our viewers, get higher audience retention and interaction. We decided to do that by associating drawings from the major painters that were following the scientific findings of this research.
The choice of these paintings and the consecutive association with the music is also based on an accurate work that requires significant time and energy.
The analysis of the melodies returned to us a lot of information on how the painting should have been made. We needed a simple blue pattern but with an intrinsic meaning. Something that people could watch for a while without really understand it.
By creating this video I tried to do only one thing which turned to be the most difficult one: make you feel an emotional synesthesia.
When hearing the melody, dont you feel that everything is...blue? aren’t you lost in the sky? is your mind going over? It’s not for no reason.
it is not only an image, it is not only a melody. It is a trip.
You dont feel bored. Its your mind using the notes and the colors to create your own experience.
Most of the videos online with only one image are only music, but not this.
The research behind the perfect combination is the key for the unconscious.
The research:
«Music–color associations are mediated by emotion» www.pnas.org/content/110/22/8836
Stephen E. Palmer, Karen B. Schloss, Zoe Xu, and Lilia R. Prado-León
— This popular nocturne is in rounded binary form (A, A, B, A, B, A) with coda, C. The A and B sections become increasingly ornamented with each recurrence. The penultimate bar utilizes considerable rhythmic freedom, indicated by the instruction, senza tempo (without tempo). Nocturne in E-flat major opens with a legato melody, mostly played piano, containing graceful upward leaps which becomes increasingly wide as the line unfolds. This melody is heard again three times during the piece. With each repetition, it is varied by ever more elaborate decorative tones and trills. The nocturne also includes a subordinate melody, which is played with rubato.