Wim Winters has startled many by reestablishing much better tempi, but his most insightful contributions, for me, focus on his ability to show how phrasing is the secret to the greatest interpretations. The spirit of Albert Schweitzer in strong in Wim Winters. Schweitzer's performances of Bach's organ music are magical because of his attention to phrasing (as well as tempi). Such musicality is the highest form of virtuosity, not merely speed!
I agree I guess they were played on these instruments. I wonder if mom played along with her child on a mother daughter clavichord. I would like to hear in person. I heard forte pianos and harpsichords but not a clavichord. 73
I've been learning Inventions 1, 4 and 8 (currently working on 8) and I find this video extremely helpful and reassuring. Sometimes I feel like I put my value as an aspiring pianist on how fast I can play a piece. Invention 8 particularly has intimidated me on how fast some play it, hearing your performances helps me realize that I can learn these pieces and not have to be scared or feel inadequate because I can't reach break neck speed.
Normally I prefer the clear, bell-like voice of the harpsichord over the voice of the clavichord, but this is the best performance I've heard of these pieces. Thank you so much for posting!
I’ve just stumbled across this recording and it’s by far the best and most musical performance I’ve heard of Bach’s inventions since I listened to Gould’s years ago (especially the 2nd in C-moll, wow!): From the added ornamentations, that deviate from the choices of many other performers’, and add to the dramatic narrative, to the phrasing of the theme. This is what music is all about; thank you for all your efforts.
There are so many comments I would like to offer in appreciation for this masterful, instructional posting. Suffice it to say for now: this is the most inspirational, beguiling, and helpful performance for this retired (old!) and struggling but passionate keyboardist on my home-built (1968) Zuckermann harpsichord kit (refurbished 2016). Thank you, Maestro e Professore Wim Winters. rjs
5:31 - Play this one at 50%, and you get a tragic love song. WOW! I think I'm going to reinvent how I was playing these for emotional appeal. Bonjour du Mexique, Cher Wim !
Beautiful. This is the first time I'd heard Bach's inventions on the clavichord, which I understand is the instrument he intended it for. I'd started playing piano at 8-9 yrs. old and was introduced to the usual classics for learning (Für Elise, Moonlight Sonata, etc.), but didn't know about Bach until, of all things, I heard Invention No. 8 as the score to a video game called _Looping_ on Colecovision (1983) and then later Invention No. 13 that was used for a Commodore 64 commercial (1984). I was instantly hooked to the intricacies and "echoes" Bach used in those pieces. I'm not sure how I found out it was Bach-much less inventions-but when I did, I immediately went to my local library and found the sheet music, practicing it over and over until I memorized them both. Of course, as a self-taught kid at the time (13-14 yrs. old), I totally overlooked all the notations that would affect the "feel" of the notes (staccatto, etc.) and just basically took it at face value. It wasn't until a few years later when I played the pieces at a friend's house on his piano (he was a huge Bach fan and accomplished pianist), and he totally berated me for not knowing all those nuances, lol. He also said I was playing them too slow, which I totally objected to. I was a little discouraged after that encounter and didn't play them much after that. Revisiting these pieces by watching your performance inspired me to return to playing them myself. Your tempo is perfect; pretty much the speed I liked playing. I also really like the subtle flourishes that you put on them, and the sound of the clavichord is amazing. I can't believe how old this music is, but it goes to show that some pieces are just timeless. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work.
This is truly amazing. The tone is so consistently pure and beautiful (And those of us who are just humble amateurs know how extremely difficult that is to achieve on the clavichord.) I love these relaxed tempos which have movement without speed and give time to turn notes into music. Playing like this is so satisfying emotionally and so inspiring intellectually... wonderful!
I like them at this tempo. And I see why clavichord was his preferred instrument. In this they sound more like something to groove to, each with a different feeling. Unlike the modern pianists who've turned them into etudes...
This is superb ! The sound of the clavichord is so pure it is perfect for Bach music ! Please could you explain a bit what's the differences between a virginal, a clavichord, an epinette and a harpsichord ?
I used to find listening to the inventions too dreary on the piano and too noisy on the harpsichord. The clavichord is 'just right'. Funnily enough, it's quite natural. Why won't it be? Bach didn't sample a piano and then a harpsichord and then settle on the clavichord. He wrote it for the clavichord. So, to find it sound best in the clavichord not only attests to the delicate nature of Bach's music but also the importance of choice of authentic instruments. The fortepiano and the clavichord are the most organic of all keyboard instruments. Love the color (/timbre) disparity between bass and treble. Almost sounds like two different instruments.
There is a lot of discussion whether Bach wrote for the clavichord specifically or even not. The latter is hard to believe is an option today, but it is...rarely, the facts are taken really seriously. At the end we don't know because we weren't present at that time, but we do know for instance that the inventions and sinfonias, form the title page, is to learn the "cantabile" style, which was new at the time, and directly connected to the clavichord as an instrument, never to the harpsichord. So... you have great ears, I believe what you experience is right. And yes, the clavichord is a great polyfonic instrument.
let's not forget too that they were pieces written for students and AFAIK, clavichords at Bach's house were instruments used by students... they sound great wherever played, though
I am inclined to think that had Bach had access to a piano after he had composed the inventions or anything for that matter, the piano would have become instrument of choice. Mozart showed no hesitated to explore the additional degrees of freedom that the piano afforded and earlier instruments lacked.
@@AuthenticSoundI'm a member of the Clavichord party.... 😉... At least when it comes to the didactic pieces... In the end Bach used to teach on clavichord if my memory assists from what historical witnesses report.....
Finally, someone who played my tempo. Not too fast or too slow. I agree with your tempo. Some just play too fast or too slow in these pieces. What edition did you play? It's just like other editions many people played on YT. I planned to record all Schirmer's edition on these pieces. I don't know if that version is still original or out of originality but I think that's just somehow perfect for people who just knew Bach and wanted to learn about them
Hi Wim I just want to be very honest here: When I saw the presentation of one of your video for the first time on youtube, it was a talking video not a performance, and of course about speed and music, I though: "Great! An other illuminate or a frustrated musician. Let's have a look for fun!", I'm not proud of myself but that was my first view of the presentation of your video. After watching it I just started to think about it and found it really interesting. Then I started to follow your channel on youtube. I still play music my own way with my own temperament, but no doubt that your video made me think and view music differently so very thank you for this. Then I started to watch your performance. First I think it was Beethiven pathetic. I have been very pleased to listen to that because I really heard a new piece there! You are a very sensitive musician and I think you deserve more listener! my mother was an opera singer who did a very good career. I grew up as a musician and when I discovered Bach really young, I fell in love with his music instantly! My mother told me that I wasn't allowed to listen to any pianist playing my pieces until I totally finish learning it and that a child should be able to develop his imagination to create his own view of a music piece! Very young I understood the importance of phrasing and singing everything I'm playing. I can feel when a musician or a pretending musician, emulate a phrase without fully understanding it or possess it nearly like he/she would have wrote the piece himself/herself. You really feel what you play Wim and I really take pleasure listening to you. You will probably have people who doesn't agree and like your music but that's part of the deal! It allows other musician not playing the same way as you to be appreciated. But count me as one of your follower, very happy and pleased listener. I have heard so many teachers teaching those inventio and Symphony like a finger exercise!!! They should listen to you and remember that they are pieces of music before anything else! I would like to say that I'm a "classical" pianist and moved to jazz later on in my career. I love it and it is very very interesting that Jazz helped me to understand Chopin, Bach, Beethoven,... in much deeper level. I firmly believe that there are not stupid music! Even the most recent pop song have one or two things to teach us. Please continue to do what you do because you do it well!
J.S.BACH - Harmony of the Cosmos ... on another planet, on another star, in another galaxy - I will listen to J.S. Bach and remember the planet Earth... 🔥❤
Thank you so much for this wonderful upload. I liked your choosing of 'normal' tempo (espec. for no. 8 in F Major which at last I could enjoy its inner beauty without feeling I'm in a mad horse-race!), your trills' clear professional execution (also adding them in places with long notes or treating them with free spirit of your own) and your delicate little pause towards the end of an invention, to stress a special chord (like in invention no. 7 in E minor 15:07). I just wondered a little about the relatively fast tempo at no. 5 in Eb Major. Could you please tell me what made you choose this tempo. I admit I found this whole specific invention enigmatic to me, when I learned to play it. Thanks a lot for your whole performance. Bravo!
I'm using Werckmeister's 1706/7 Welltemperierte Harmonia. Here is the playlist with recent videos I made on temperament and tuning: ru-vid.com/group/PLackZ_5a6IWX_ctYuB4G4cuUImq0Cl26n
Thank you so much, Rich, wonderful to hear you liked the performance! The Sinfonias are in preparation, we covered them extensively in the Live practicing hours, I'll copy the link below. The repeat was just because I felt it could use the repeat ! I'm playing from the Dover-Bach Gesellschaft edition for the nice layout, and check the score with other sources, but usually it is very good. here is the link: ru-vid.com/group/PLackZ_5a6IWVD8MFyQX7laUvZavkSIH8j
The scary thing, Mr. Winters is that there is a LOT of Bach's Oeuvre that probably got turned into butcher wrapping paper/garbage by the ravishes of time and ignorance of a lot of people. Please keep playing all of his beautiful works..if you could play some in the harpsichord, that would be lovely!
Wim, just wondering about your use of repeats in certain pieces. F major for example. Is this from a certain manuscript or are you using this as a mini sonata form concept? Really enjoying your performance. Cheers
I love the inventions and your performance! Will Spotify ever be graced by your recordings? Also, have you considered doing the English and French suites? I’d love to hear your take on the sarabande from English suite number one, or those concerto grosso opening movements of English suites two through six. On a clavichord those would sound so incredible. I love Thurston Dart’s clavichord recordings of the French suites, but without repeats they flow by so quickly that I can hardly blink without missing parts. I love your playing so deeply!!
Excelentes interpretaciones! Me gustó especialmente los tempi de las invenciones nos. 4 y 13 que son tocadas muchas veces a demasiada velocidad. Parece que a algunos virtuosos se les olvida que Bach compuso estas piezas para estudiantes. Saludos desde México
How are you playing the trill in the third bar of Invention 2? I'd like to play it like you do, for it sounds lovely, but I'm not sure how you're playing it. (I'm using the Palmer edition, by the way. )
That is an interesting question, is the thrill E F E F E or E F# E F# E ? He is playing natural F here. I always plays natural Fa too but in last times I watched some pianists playing F# and looking at Henle edition with more attencion it is F# written there between parenthesis above the note E in the left hand.
Can you 'feel' the voices better on the clavichord than on the harpsichord? I find the piano a bit 'artificial' to play these works but Glenn Gould seems to manage although hearing you playing them gives me a better impression of what JSB himself intended.
The clavichord indeed is a remarkable polyphonic instrument, not only due to the dynamic differentiation it can make, but also the somewhat shorter tone compared to the harpsichord that gives a bit more 'room' the the different lines.
Mr winters how hard is it to play the clavichord. The keys are so delicate and light you can easily hit the wrong note, but you have mastered it. The piano is simple the harpischord in the middle the clavichord hard yet bach adored it he wrote most of his music for the clavichord. Bach looks like a chubby man with chubby fingers I don't how he could have mastered. Anyways I love what you do and i hope you don't stop.☺
Wonderfully played, inspired me to play them again as well (1st and 8th), and learning the rest, also I've really grown to love the clavichord because of you! Will have those recordings on streaming services as well in the near future ( like Spotify, Apple Music, etc)
Hi Andre, thank you for the kind words! We'll start with our label soon, with the first disc with music of Pachelbel (Hexachordum) both on CD and vinyl. Then moving to the Bach partitas, and one of the projects is indeed the Inventions/Sinfonias. On the practicing of the sinfonias, I did a lot of livestreams last year (will introduce the lives the coming months again), here's the playlist of those : ru-vid.com/group/PLackZ_5a6IWVD8MFyQX7laUvZavkSIH8j
AuthenticSound looking forward to it, have you also considered the Goldberg variations? Would be interesting to hear your take, and thoughts ( regarding tempo) on themo, considering the "double beat" metronome theory and knowing you are a fan of Glen Gould ( like myself ), and tho his Bach interpretations are fantastic, the choice of his tempi has seen some controversy, as well as metronome markings in most editions of the variations
Hi Wilson, thank you for the nice words! The clavichord is historically a very steady instrument. if you leave it in the same room (as I do now while recording the partitas on tape, it indeed is remarkably steady. When weather changes, like from +10 to -5 (c) e.g., the base can go down a tiny bit. I don't know the technical reason for that, and in fact it is kind of strange, since you really, physically push the string up, the louder you play the more, and of course if you exaggerate with doing that (going over the tone), you'd affect the tuning, but overall, that isn't the case. best wishes! Wim
Okay, that's interesting! I don't know that much about historical instruments, so it's nice to know how they are to play and maintain. Wasn't that familiar with the clavichord other than a couple of recordings I have, but the sound is really beginning to grow on me. Much mellower than the harpsichord!
I wonder how the Sinfonias came to be called the 3-part Inventions? Does anyone know? I only have access to resources such as Schweitzer’s enormous biography at a public library and should visit sometime, as there is an incredibly rare two volume edition of a biography by C.M.vonWebers son available, and on public display, rather than in a rare book repository. (I’m pretty sure it is a vonWeber set of tomes, not vonBülow)
Hi Doug, the sinfonias were actually ready to be recorded, but lack of focus I guess postponed this. I need to find a balance in the work we do here, though it was expected the pianoforte would shake things up. ANd of course... outside my musical life, projects all suddenly come together as well. 2019 will be the year of focus focus focus and the studio will help with this (I hope)
My favorite invention #6 I love to hold the whole bass line like if the bass had a sustain pedal at 8:54 to listen the harmony filling the melody. Same at 11:11 No doubt Bach was a genius
0:23 are you binding the notes in the left hand? I had a discussion with my teacher, that this would not be "bach like", what do you say about that? :)
the tangent stays against the string as long as the sound remains. After that there is no real damping, but the sound will not live for long. However the soundboard acts like the echo of a cathedral
this is like my ultimate goal one day, to play Bach's inventions on a clavichord/harpsichord! Hopefully one day.... I enjoyed your performance ! its amazing :)
@@sha6ar6oon I am using this combination right now. StudioLogic Midi keyboard with Pianoteq. The Clavichord double string 415Hz with well temperament and small hall effect has 70% of the sound performance in this video. I know it is far from authentic but this has at least more than half of "the original taste".
Thank you so much for your performance of number 1 - it illustrates everything I want my student to learn! Now if only the pianists here in Toronto would appreciate that! BTW, do you ever speak to my old professor, Harald Vogel?
About the inventions and ornaments, I have a video : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MVw0_fbbxhA.html For tips and tricks on tempi etc, I have a playlist with practicing hour videos (livestreams, where I really go indepth on that: the series will continue after the recording of the partitas is done, added with hangouts with you so that we can speak and see each other ! : ru-vid.com/group/PLackZ_5a6IWVD8MFyQX7laUvZavkSIH8j
@@AuthenticSound Thank you! Personally I go for Henle Urtext as they stick close to the original score. But anyway, great recordings! I like them very much!
I am inclined to think that had Bach had access to a piano after he had composed the inventions or anything for that matter he would have transferred to that instrument. Mozart showed no hesitation to explore the additional degrees of freedom that the piano afforded and which earlier instruments lacked.
I understand that Bach had only heard very early prototypes of the piano and was not very impressed. It was only after Bach's death that the piano became the clavier of choice, to such that in German the word "klavier" now means "piano".
@@clivegoodman16 Sir, I feel it would be in your interest to read the following account in detail: The improved Silbermann pianos met with Bach's "complete approval" ("völlige Gutheißung"), and indeed a preserved sales voucher dated May 8, 1749, shows that Bach acted as an intermediary for Silbermann in the sale of one of his pianos.
