Customer Reviews for The Well-Tempered Clavier, Volume I
Return to "The Well-Tempered Clavier, Volume I"
Keith
Location: from New Jersey
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
April 3, 2009
Useful edition of some of the best piano music ever
Learn Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1) and you will have reached a critical milestone in keyboard music. Played best on a harpsichord (unless you're Glenn Gould), these pieces never fail to instruct and delight. This version is bright and clear, with numerous footnotes referencing alternate autograph versions, and the spiral binding makes it easy to lay pages flat - an important detail. Some readers may question with the recommended fingering, but you will find your own way with practice. Highly recommended to anyone who plays a keyboard.
18 of 29 people found this review helpful.
Nancy O
Location: from Marysville, WA
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
December 29, 2008
a must for the well-rounded pianist
This book is well edited and the material is fabulous. Bach is a must for every pianist who wants the ultimate finger control in their playing, and this book will get you well on your way there.
15 of 25 people found this review helpful.
Ron Richard
Location: from Fargo ND
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate/advanced
June 19, 2008
Highly Recommended
I'd been struggling through the first fugue in an ancient Bischoff edition and was really frustrated trying to figure out the fingering from the few suggestions given. Additionally the notes were small, slightly blurred, and squashed together - a real difficulty for a senior student. I'd been pleased with Palmer's Introduction to Bach's Keyboard Music, so I bought his edition of The Well-Tempered Clavier. It was a great improvement: the printing is very crisp and clear, complicated measures are elongated to make reading easier, the recommended fingering works quite well for me, and the book is bound with a plastic coil so the book stays open easily and page turning is simplified. My instructor said that the book looks like it was written with a view to encouraging people to play the music instead of intimidating them away.
27 of 39 people found this review helpful.