360 degrees, start AND finish, he's the ultimate master. Debussy himself said something like, out of a thousand notes, you will not hear one chosen badly by Bach, or lacking in the right kind of taste, and for what he aims to achieve. Awesome.
C Major - 846 0:00 / 2:41 c minor - 847 4:39 / 6:26 C# Major - 848 8:22 / 9:39 c# minor - 849 12:13 / 15:12 D Major - 850 17:51 / 19:25 d minor - 851 21:13 / 22:51 Eb Major - 852 24:59 / 28:32 eb/d# minor - 853 30:21 / 34:19 E Major - 854 38:14 / 39:58 e minor - 855 41:20 / 43:20 F Major - 856 44:50 / 45:54 f minor - 867 47:22 / 50:14 F# Major - 858 54:12 / 55:52 f# minor - 859 57:58 / 59:03 G Major - 860 1:02:19 / 1:03:14 g minor - 861 1:05:50 / 1:08:03 Ab Major - 862 1:09:58 / 1:11:30 g# minor - 863 1:13:29 / 1:15:31 A Major - 864 1:17:48 / 1:19:21 a minor - 865 1:21:16 / 1:22:41 Bb Major - 866 1:26:45 / 1:28:02 bb minor - 867 1:29:59 / 1:32:26 B Major - 868 1:35:44 / 1:36:43 b minor - 869 1:38:33 / 1:41:01
One of the most balanced renditions of the First Book ever performed. A real surprise. very, very good.I was waiting fror something like this and I was already thinking that it was not possible anymore in our times, this Lady is a Joy! A must for every lover of Bach.
Thank you, I've made sure Kimiko gets your kind comments. You might want to sign up for her mailing list as she's launching a Kickstarter project next week for her upcoming "J.S. Bach, Kunst der Fuge (Art of the Fugue)" recording, to which she has composed a new ending. eepurl.com/-9uzf
You are right. Very well-organized musically, conceptually, and emotionally. Besides George Malcolm, one of my favorites for Bach, the first I heard and still probably prize above others is Malcolm Hamilton (the name "Malcolm" seems to be Bach-friendly) of USC, a classmate let me hear his collection when I was first studying piano, and Hamilton on harpsichord was a great guide. But Ms. Ishizaka, though rather straightforward musically (inifinitely better than the crystal meth tempi that have been all the rage for too long), is a joy for the clarity of her concept, and what is rare to find, really accurate execution standard, rarely hearing any seams, which is a high standard. I prefer it to Glenn Gould ( I sang often with the Orchestra which with he was perhaps most often associated, and also played some of these in concert, with "plans" to play more!). She is maybe less far-ranging in imagining it than he, or his quirkiness, but rarely what seems self-indulgent (unlike Mr. Gould, absence of hums is prized!). Although it's no detriment to restrain some fangled emotions with Bach, within a certain boundary, I yet prefer these pieces played with a somewhat different range of dramatic and emotional expression, such as Hamilton and Malcolm bring, always. As Wilde put it, "To have become a deeper man is the privilege of those who have suffered." But that can take many forms, indeed! In any case, much here has depths that I have not heard quite the likes of elsewhere, and I find all that she brings superior there to many current "exemplars" ~ not to tarnish any names, but they rule the roost, and she has much of a different sort of insight to bring to such a great work, heard as well as we can from his highest heights! New takes, ones that are commanding in their nuance and presentation, are always to be championed and prized. Recordings I've worshipped for over fifty years, and that are the unsurpassable zenith of quality and depth, are those of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, especially the Beethoven #32 sonata, during which I inevitably swoon, performed on a, I believe, a 111 key Bosendorfer no less, and I thought that hers might be one as well, marvelling at the great clarity of sound in expression. Great gratitude for that choice, a very captivating and "revealing" union, and all of that acoustic. Brilliant sound and splendide!
The first prelude was transformed by Charles Gounod in a precious Ave María. A slower playing by Kimiko is justified. She is proud of being also a succesful weights lifter. Thanks for this gift
I think I beg to differ. While Ishizaka's interpretation is extremely clear and clear, the voices at any point resemble each other. This is not how I view counterpoint. It is a conversation between voices, played non-uniformly. When I practice these fugues I get the phrasing of each voice separately, and each one's volume, articulation and phrasing may be different from what is going on w the other lines. For example, in the c minor fugue, at 7:49 the lower voice should crescendo when it ascends the scales.
I love hearing how different people play Bach's WTC. Having so few markings in the score definitely encourages the creativity of the interpreter, and I like Ishizaka, Schiff, and Richter's completely different interpretations for different reasons.
Yes, there's a lot of difference between my performances and the others that you mention. I was careful to not listen to other performers while I was studying, in order to avoid influences.
@@zanexiao4488 Yes, it's a defensible idea. I remember my father-in-law after he heard me play it the first time. He was wide-eyed, in awe. "So chromatic!" he said.
The clarity of the voice is so important to me, and I'm really happy that you notice it. A big part of that comes from careful planning of the articulations, not just of the themes, but of every note, so that it's always logical and consistent.
... so amazing ... I heard her playing long long time ago ... and also her brother who is a famous violoncello player now. We were together with my little daughters, one of them also is a musician now ... seems that Kimiko Ishizaka has inspired us 🥰 ...
Easy to put on, not so easy to turn off. The tempos, pacing, clarity...I've already grabbed my WTC book for a little exploration. Thank you for the inspiration.
It's so worth it! You might have seen already, but you can get the full album as a download here music.kimiko-piano.com/ The Bach recordings are free to download.
This recording is reminding me how important subtle changes in phrasing can be in suggesting the internal structure of a piece by Bach. Bach always plays with what artists call figure/ ground relationships. Like when something is delineated with a line, which thing is the object and which is the background? In an M.C. Escher graphic, Escher plays with our sense of which is which. Is it birds, swimming in a sea of fish, or fish swimming in a sea of birds. The best interpreters of Bach are aware of all the possibilities of the illusions, available for focus. Bach sketches with a line that suggests an underlying architecture, but there are many possibilities for what the shape of framework underneath REALLY IS! Kimiko does the 1st prelude so beautifully, for this consideration, she leaves us plenty of room to explore the possibilities for moving the markers on the beginnings and endings of phrases (of our internal minds ear) which is exactly how #1 should be played,... it can put one into a meditative trance. Another great pianist, Konstantin Lifschitz, totally ruins WTC #1 by putting a tiny extra space at the measure mark, for each phrase, changing the piece from sparkles glinting off the ocean on a sunny day, to a row of artificial wood grain panels with the same woodgrains, on each one! Its partly the ambiguity of the design that lets Our mind play with the elements, wondering where does this sentence end , or begin, and seeing the words with different breaks in the phrase, they can have equally interesting , and meaningful ideas., but different, depending on ones focus. So Sorry to say that the C# minor Fugue (BWV 849), really suffers for Kimikos decision to stress the "apparent" downbeat, and she clips the end beat of each phrase, breaking the beauty of the continuous lines, in this, one of Bach's most ethereal, mysteriously floating pieces, when played as Sviatoslav Richter does, or Edwin Fisher, or Tatiana Nikolaeva...What Bach leaves out of his compositions is just as important as what he puts in!
It's exactly "all the possibilities" that made this take so long to prepare. I had to try out EVERYTHING I could imagine and hold it up to the light of truth: Is that better than the other possibilities?
@@Kimiko-piano , I hope You can forgive my lack of humility, You are a brilliant pianist!. Listening again to the fugue (BWV 849) unfortunately i still feel the same. I have been playing Stephen Malinowski's version, over and over with "alien robot voices", and the more i listen, the more I enjoy it. Especially interesting that 849 is so favored by pianists, and yet it sounds even better, with a weird vocoder electronic "vox humana". But I do Like your, and Stephen's faster tempo. Another favorite of the ones You do here that I L O V E, is BWV 852.
What a beauty. The healthiest piano sound I've ever heard. This WTC purifies me. There were some pieces in WTC I didn't like as much, but Kimiko Ishizaka made me love those. Especially the works in Major key sound very refreshing to me. I sing, dance and relax with joy. This is the first time I don't think anything while listening to Bach. Thank you for playing WTC. You made me happy.
I feel that Bach is nearly unique in his ability to write major key pieces that sound truly joyous, with no caveats. And thank you for this comment, it makes me happy =)
P.S) You also played my favorite fugues beautifully(f minor and b minor!). I love your left hand. The bass sounds fabulous. Not many people have that much control. Bach's music has many layers, like water crystal clear but you can't see the bottom. Countless people challenged this water, not for a new interpretation but discovery of Bach. And you are the one who found a lot of gems there. (Oh, how I love c minor prelude you play..) I've been a huge fan of Bach for nearly 50 years, and I still got a lot to know, so many mysteries ahead. You solved some for me in extremely natural manner, a truly pleasant surprise.
I like that "healthiest piano". You may have something there. I prefer some neuroses of a creative kind brought to Bach, though you aren't wrong, with Ms. Ishizaka, for sure. Norman Sherry in his massive biography of Graham Greene, uses as the epigraph to one of his chapters about the young novelist, a quote from Proust, "Without nervous disorder there can be no great artist." Hmmmmmm!
WOw this performance is so great! I'm now listening to e flat minor prelude. The way she reduces the time of the last beats of some measures (9 and 11 for example)to maintain the fluidity of the sixteenth notes is so weird but it works so well! Usually people like to play these kind of dotted rythms even more dotted, all the sixteenth notes turning into thirty second notes, but then sometimes switch akwardly to sixteenth again just because they want to keep the tempo. Ishizaka here sacrifices that in a very natural and effective way, I never thought that it was even possible to do this and it sounds so nice! I was really amazed and surprised!
omg the rythm in measures 32-34!! It's genius! We never lose the direction of the music, who gives a damn about the metronome! This is really inspiring for me, thank you so much!
What a great discovery! This lady plays Bach with soul and finesse. Her tempo of this piece is just perfect - not so fast or slow. It is a Gem! Bach would be proud of this performance.
What a great youtube upload. As a somewhat advanced adult hobby player, I keep coming back to this video when I tackle something from the WTK. The recording by Kimiko Ishizaka is fantastic and I often get stuck listening to it when I just wanted to look something up.
A superb rendition of this master piece. I was very impressed with the Schiff interpretation but I think that this was more nuanced and technically brilliant.Hopefully we will hear more from this gifted pianist.
I've recently begun composing my own pieces. The first full album of my compositions (which I also perform) is here, in case you're interested. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ph35hLwcckY.html
si vous aimez Bach, comme je l' ai vénéré pour la beauté de sa musique, vous devriez aimez mes propres compositions, présentes et surtout à venir, sur ma chaine.
Thanks for the upload. Exquisite production of Bach. I don't think a regular listener appreciates what level of skill is required to play such complicated and beautiful music.
Thanks so much for the very kind words. A lot of thought and effort went into the recording, but the music is so rewarding. Have you also had a chance to hear my own compositions which I recorded more recently? Here are the "Blues Variations" for example, which has a canon and a fugue inspired by Bach in it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BJ8vKTZYS3Y.html
It takes a keyboardist, or any musician, to understand just how demanding it is to "ace" a really good keyboard executant standard, regularly, for Bach, without seams showing. Even more so for the slower tempi, such control issues, but a lot of work in technique, more hours than anything I know, for the right result, the desired sound.
Kimiko, inestimable amiga, eres una caricia para el alma. Gracias por tañir la Cuerda Primordial del Alma Humana. Tú, reparas el Mundo. Bendiciones a ti y a toda tu gente. A todos los que hacen posible encontrarnos en este mágico lugar...
Profound melodies to inspire the mind and to relax. Pianist Kimiko expresses magisterial control over all aspects of the Well-tempered Clavier! Delightful listening...
greetings from Brazil to you! Very beautiful work! Bach is my daily bread I listen him everyday, anyway is the only manner for me to grow as a good musician and person
Have you downloaded the audiophile quality files from music.kimiko-piano.com? The background on these recordings is interesting as well. She was the first classical performer to not only finance all of her recordings with fan funding, but to also license them as public domain works from day 1. See her Goldberg Variations, if you haven't already: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-15ezpwCHtJs.html
Thank you for your kind answer! And information! I have passed 50 years hearing at every possible rendicion of The Well Tempered Clavier, and humbly can say that knows something about it, what this pianist does, is really superb. The timing, the cadenza, we have seen a lot of changes since, lets say Walter Gieseking and Edwin Fischer to Glenn Gould, from too fast, to too slow (and albeit I love Gould) but Ms Ishizaka has the exact pace. I understand that this statement is quite subjective, of course, but for me, she sounds the best!
G'day, Mr. Golsby! I've just been thinking aloud to myself, "Probably quite a lot of people unfamiliar with the extensiveness of Bach's works think of him as some stodgy old chap sitting round in tight breeches writing fugues and creepy organ pieces." Well, he did write the book on fugues, but upon discovering him more in depth in late March, 2020, I came to realise that there is so very much more to him than the stereotype many have in mind. I have grown to love his sacred works, chorales, concerti, partitas, and organ works as well. He epitomised the balance of emotion and intellect with his astonishing talent, which wasn't really appreciated in his day. He was considered too old-fashioned even then and one of the men on the council when Bach was applying for the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig referred to him as "mediocre". I wish everyone could listen to music such as these preludes and fugues in addition to a variety of his other compositions to gain an appreciation of Bach's genius. Perhaps a modern film should be made about him, but more factual than, say, "Amadeus".
The performance is definitely master piece! As a recreational adult player who started to study piano a few years ago, I could barely play a few relatively simple preludes and fugues in WTK. I found so much fun listening to Kimiko's performance, following her lead of each line, which I couldn't do by reading the original music sheets as a non-professional. This is incredibly educational as well.
That's exactly the special quality of the Bösendorfer that I love so much, especially for Bach. It allows me to keep all of the individual voices as distinct and separate as I want.
Bach's well-tuned piano still attracts - Pollini, Keith Jarrett - now Kimiko Ishizaka - seems to be some special piece of piano knighthood. Thank you for this fine rendition.
thank you so much - a LUMINOUS performance: very moving. I've never heard the WTC played so intimately. What glorious music this is - I cannot understand any attitude other that pure gratitude.
She really so often chooses what are, imho, spot on as appropriate and revealing tempo, for her approach overall. (I will be thus egged on to fine tune mine as the only merely bearable response to this hearing.) I am old school, in tempo, as in "old-fashioned Bach". (Klemperer and Hugh Bean are not too fast, ever, LOL. There is a recording here at YT of Furtwangler playing the cadenza on pano to the 5th Brandenburg, very slowly, and I would take that any day of the year in exchange for all the "modern" playing Bach "as crazy as bugs", which seems the standard in the "New Age" and seems 30 years old hat, or so. But this pianist always takes a very measured approach, which is a great context for listening, like an avenue of meditation, and one really good way of hearing it.
Danke für diese wunderbare Wiedergabe ! Sehr ausbalanciert und technisch perfekt vorgetragen und beseelt , . .... Schiff' s Einspielung vom wohltemperierten Klavier ist auch sehr gut, aber ich bin begeistert von dieser Aufnahme! Thank you very much!
Utterly incredible! Each work shines with radiance, capturing the trials, joys and contentment of being human on this planet. Brava extended to the great pianist who speaks so eloquently through her God-given hands!
Hearing you play motivated me to start playing cello soon. I’m excited to start learning. I’m getting lessons online. I would play piano but no room in my 370 square foot home. Wish I started yrs ago. Hope your well with the 👶. Take care.
Thank you. It's also quite wonderful being able to connect and communicate with the people who enjoy it. If you visit my website, not only can you download the audiophile quality version of this and other recordings, for free, you can get notifications when I release new music. music.kimiko-piano.com
To try and figure out how JS Bach rendered this astounding achievement of musical architecture will leave you with a headache at best or at worst make you insane.
Indeed. As a performer I studied this and a number of his other works for years to render the above performance. Yet the WTC is just a small slice of his overall opus. Bach's work is an overwhelming contribution to humanity.
Overwhelming yes in a good way! In class we were made to analyze the theory of Bach's Chaccone only to be left befuddled and astounded that such a work could even be written. So glad you are performing!
@@vextract4662 Check out the Helmut Walcha performance of Toccata and Fugue in F Major, and analyze the Toccata. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DUR-SrE0vQc.html Bach is so clever!
Gran intrepretacion, a la altura de los grandes divos del piano. Bravo por tan bella ejecucion. La fuga No. 4 en C# min simplemente es una de las mas grandes obras musicales de todos los tiempos. Digna de el Dios de la Harmonia.
@OpenGoldberg: thanks alot for informing me of this new version of J.S.Bach's G-Variations. Great articulation, clarity and sensitivity. A real pleasure to listen! Congrats to the pianist and thx to the producer and uploader. 👌 👏
Piano playing is a delicate act that requires precision and softness (sometimes). Weightlifting seems like the complete opposite of that. And yet, Kimiko Ishizaka does both of those things. She is a legend.
