This Prelude and fugue in D major, performed by Guillermo Brachetta for All of Bach, is a good example of gestures in music. As is often the case, the prelude is constructed of a single musical gesture that occurs repeatedly in variations. The fugue revolves around the “grand gesture” at the beginning, which is an ornamentation of fast notes.

This Prelude and fugue is part of Bach's Wohltemperirte Clavier. Composing 48 keyboard pieces in all 24 keys was the sort of challenge Bach enjoyed. In each of the two parts of the Wohltemperirte Clavier, he brought together the musical couple prelude and fugue 24 times; twelve in minor keys and twelve in major. In the preludes, he gave free rein to his imagination, and demonstrated mathematical tours de force in the fugues. In contrast to the iron discipline Bach had to apply to his church compositions, here he could abandon himself to intellectual Spielerei without worrying about deadlines.

Recorded for the project All of Bach on November 13th 2018 in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel [ Ссылка ] and consider donating [ Ссылка ].

For the interview with harpsichordist Guillermo Brachetta on the Prelude and fugue no. 5 in D major BWV 850 go to [ Ссылка ]
For the complete playlist of The Well-Tempered Clavier I go to [ Ссылка ]
For more information on BWV 850 and this production go to [ Ссылка ]

All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society / Nederlandse Bachvereniging, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and its guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material [ Ссылка ]. For concert dates and further information go to [ Ссылка ].

Guillermo Brachetta, harpsichord

0:00 Prelude
1:53 Fugue

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