This is GREAT!! What a find! I have many recordings of the Well Tempered Clavier, old and new. This is my new favorite. If you love these pieces, or are learning them, I URGE you to hear this set! Also, you get both Books I and II here: a good thing. This is special: easily one of my top ten classical music CD purchases of the year. *EASILY.* God Bless You, Ms. Ugorskaja!

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Master Jason Argos

J.S. at his best

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2013

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This recording of the student pieces is lyrical and personal.
I have heard Bach praised for his mathematical precision, but I so much prefer this approach to that of the Glen perfect note after perfect note after perfect note after... do you get the idea?
Well hart and fun is a better way to listen and live and this recording fits the bill.

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Sergio Cervetti

Disappointing.

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2015

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Somehow disappointed with his performance as well as the sound of this recording. I wanted Georg Demus but unfortunately his wonderful recordings of the 1960's are not available on CD's

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2015

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Great performances by Gieseking. Those who know him best for Ravel will be very surprised.

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J Scott Morrison

Welcome Back, Walter!

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2010

The fairly new classical music label, Newton Classics, seems to be bent on bringing back lauded recordings from the past and they've certainly done that here with this three CD collection of Walter Gieseking (1895-1956) playing both books of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. This is taken from a studio recording made for broadcast over Saar Radio (Germany) in 1950 and was available for years first on LP and then on CD, now out of print. Now it's back at budget price. The sound is of its time and, of course, in mono. But it has been cleaned up nicely and once one has noticed the 1950s sound, one quickly stops hearing it as such and is drawn in to Gieseking's playing which, one must admit, is a bit quirky by currently understood baroque performance practice standards. But one is also charmed and energized by Gieseking's dancing, lively, spirited and, at times, humorous way with these time-honored pieces. You might have guessed from WTC I & II being contained on three CDs that Gieseking takes fairly quick tempos. Indeed, some of the preludes and fugues are so lickety-split that one wonders if he is going to come a-cropper, which he never quite does. There are frequent metrical variations that, given Gieseking's technique, must be chosen rather than due to any deficit in technical ability.

People tend to forget that Gieseking had an immensely varied repertoire because he has become known to latter generations primarily as an interpreter of French music, primarily that of Debussy and Ravel. But in his day he played everything -- moderns like Hindemith and Martin, romantics like Rachmaninoff (his Rachy PC 3 from 1940 is a treasure), Beethoven (he played the entire 32 in concert at the age of 20), Brahms, and classics like Mozart and Haydn as well as Clementi, Galuppi and J.C. Bach. He played a good deal of Bach, too, in addition to the WTC. His recording of the Partitas is worth hearing.

There will be those who are, shall we say, offended by his non-standard (in these days) approach to Bach. Somehow, though, he makes Bach contemporary or at least more easily accessible particularly for those who are not insistent on the 'correct' style that has come to the fore in the past forty years or so. In some ways his WTC reminds me of another 'incorrect' traversal, that of Sviatoslav Richter whose WTC resided in my car stereo for a couple of years, I loved it so much Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier . I suspect Gieseking will take up residence there.

So, this is not for purists, but it is certainly for open-minded music-lovers.

Recommended.

3CDs: TT 230'24" ; budget price

Scott Morrison

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Stephen

Essential listening

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2018

I have a few dozen recordings of Bach's WTC. When I see a new set, part of me thinks there is no improvement that can be made to warrant another edition. But then I remember that that most of my favorite recordings were ones that I took a chance on.

This set by Dina Ugorskaja is amazing! It is rare that a pianist can inhabit the sound-worlds of Bach and Beethoven with equal competence. I do not like my Bach performed like sentimental Romantic pieces.

Ms. Ugorskaja has been called a "philosopher on the piano." This is an apt description of her insight. Her phrasing and rhythm is Baroque and her expression is not overly sentimental.

Then there is the sound quality, which is extraordinary - a rich and deep sound. This recording has my highest recommendation!

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Ultimo Romantico

Bach The well -tempered clavier -Walter Gieseking

Reviewed in Italy on May 4, 2013

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Una delle incisioni più belle del Clavicembalo ben temperato di Bach, realizzata dal grande pianista tedesco Walter Gieseking. Virtuosismo e passione emergono in modo spettacolare dall'interpretazione di questo eccezionale pianista. La qualità di questa registrazione storica, inoltre, è di un livello più che discreto.

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S. Leonhardt

Bach, wohltemperiertes Klavier, gieseking

Reviewed in Germany on June 9, 2017

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zu der Interpretation will ich wegen unzulänglichem Sachverstandes nur sagen, dass die von gieseking gewählten Tempi mir zu schnell erscheinen. was ich aber beurteilen kann, ist die (mono-)klangqualität. die ist furchtbar, weil so starke Verzerrungen im Diskant auftreten, dass der Hörgenuss auf der Strecke bleibt. das gilt uneingeschränkt für die erste cd, danach wird es etwas besser aber keineswegs gut. schade!

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godwill

Extraordinary

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2013

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Whereas the main cause for rejoicing is that this extraordinary series of performances of Bach's masterpieces is once again available, and at a bargain price, getting to know them has made me reflect again on the outstanding phenomenon that was Walter Gieseking.

I agree with everything that J Scott Morrison has written. The qualities that strike me again and again in these performances are their rightness and naturalness of utterance, with never any apparent attempt to burden the music with "an interpretation". Gieseking's artistry in letting the music just speak for itself has sometimes been criticised as "coolness" or "neutrality", but I have never been able to agree with that criticism. Melodies are beautifully lifted, followed through and allowed to sing. Harmonic shifts are never neglected. Everything (in the successful performances which are in the majority here) seems in proportion, and that for me is a virtue rather than a limitation.

Gieseking had a reputation for not practising, and his preparation was said often to be done only by reading scores through. There are some performances among those here that do sound insufficiently prepared or rather scrambled through (and this was almost certainly a once-through playing of the pieces, without any corrections, with a few students from Gieseking's master classes permitted to be there in the radio studio as privileged listeners.) If we assume, then, that they are to all intents and purposes "live" readings, the achievement becomes more remarkable still. Much of the music sounds almost freshly-composed in its purity and direct eloquence. I would say, in that well-worn cliché, that all lovers of Bach need to have heard these performances.

A word about the sound. It is usually true in pitch, but can seem muffled. Gieseking's limpid tone is not entirely captured and there is some boxiness and upper-frequency distortion. Having said that, it is satisfactory in the sense that the ear soon adjusts to the imperfections and they cease to register. It sounds as if Gieseking played on a less than full-sized piano, with an attractive "woodiness" to the lower registers which is well caught. If you must have up-to-date modern sound, avoid this set of CDs; however, if you are tolerant of mild-to-moderate sonic imperfections you will be unbothered by the quality of the sound here.

As Mr Scott Morrison observed, Gieseking was an extraordinary musician. He mentions the wartime performances of the Rachmaninoff Concertos as well as Gieseking's (probably almost unrivalled) Debussy and Ravel. Great distinction as a Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms player, too. For me, one of the pianist's most brilliant areas was the music of Schumann, rendered with a less-than-note-perfect turbulence, passion and liveliness that possibly only Cortot equalled. (I am thinking particularly of two performances of Kreisleriana that have been preserved, one of them until recently on BBC Legends, and one of the Davidsbündlertänze, as well as a beautifully delicate version of the Waldszenen.)

That Gieseking could also bring Bach to life as vividly and convincingly as he does here shows another facet of the work of a recreative genius whose versatility remains astonishing.

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