Bach’s accidental masterpiece
source link: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music/2022/11/well-tempered-clavier-bach-300-years-accidental-masterpiece
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Bach’s accidental masterpiece
The keyboard works of The Well-Tempered Clavier sound more novel and luminous 300 years later than in their composer’s day.
A camera pans down from high in a church to focus on a stone bust of a typically ill-tempered looking Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s 1962 and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is making a short film about the composer, presented by the pianist Glenn Gould. He’s playing Bach’s Fugue in E-flat major on the organ, initially off-camera. He completes the short piece, swivels round on his stool, and ad-libs the following:
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