Search - Bach, Feinberg :: Well Tempered Klavier

An Impossible to Overrate Find from the Soviet Era

ingrid888 | An Island | 04/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is mono from the late '50's, Moscow, but the sound is not a problem. To say it quickly: it's simply one of the great recordings of the WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER in existence. The reason it's not well-known is because the tapes weren't available to the west until recent years and Feinberg was one of the great Russian pianists who, unlike many of his famous contemporaries (Richter, Gilels, etc...), never travelled and performed in the west. These are Bach Preludes and Fugues that if I were to describe them using a modern performer I would say think of Gavrilov in the slow movements of Bach's FRENCH SUITES where his playing seems to enter another realm and become tenuous and celestial. Feinberg, though, is nothing like Gavrilov in the faster movements. There is nothing that can be called 'jarring' in Feinberg's recording. This is Bach piano playing that is well within the Russian 'romantic' tradition of playing Bach, but that only distinguishes it from the other extreme, or, machinist style; Feinberg really transcends the romantic style and though, still, more associative of night than day it's more of a classically refined night... And though all the emotions of Bach's great work are here there's no doubt also a feeling of sadness in his playing... Some of the minor-key fugues run to 8, 10 and 12 minutes. This is an unusual and special recording..."

Magical

Snow Leopard | Urbana, IL | 11/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I hardly know where to begin with this astonishing set. As other reviewers note, the sound-origins of this particular recording do not get in the way at all. One can tell it's not a modern, sharp, crystal clear recording, but even the slight "haze" and warmth of the tone adds to the total effect of this set.



The thing that is most striking here is also the thing hardest to pin down. Let it be said immediately that, as far as the sheer execution of the entire set goes, Feinberg could hardly have made a more definitive statement of his abilities, but this virtuoso display is, truly and amazingly, the least of the disc's accomplishments. Nevertheless, the facility with which he plays is genuinely astonishing and a pleasure in itself to listen to; a facility that wholly frees up his creative resources to attend to the musicianship of each piece.



And indeed, Feinberg provides a veritable feast with each piece. In the C minor fugue, it is the exquisite pause at the end, as if the piece goes up lightly on tiptoes holding its breath for just so long, then finishes. (And, frankly, as strictly a joy of sequencing, the way the C-Sharp Major prelude immediately follows is musically satisfying in itself.) Or in the E-Flat Major prelude, the initial tempo is faster than usual, and then slows on a longer than usual rallentando, only to skitter away again on the ad libitim passage--all by way of introducing the second theme. And while it is facile to compare individual pieces with other performances in such a large work overall, Feinberg's generally faster tempo and uniform smoothness out-joys even Nikolaeva (who does a marvelous job of pulling out contrapuntal details no one else seems to have noticed), as well as Tureck (whose staccato march tempo is a bit precious), and Gould's rather pedestrian reading. Richter's version certainly has the tempo, energy and verve that Feinberg's exhibits, if not perhaps even more authority.



But it is not the exquisite musicianship either, which remarkably maintains its own high mark that it sets for itself throughout the set; arguably, Richter might be technically superior in this regard, still I'm more liable to listen to Feinberg.



Partially this is because the whole set is less pyrotechnic than Richter, but also partially for what one reviewer notes as Feinberg's transformation of exercise pieces into musical pieces. Of course, these are not merely exercises, and no great pianist who has recorded them did not express the music that is already present in them. Even so, there seems to be more music here than one usually finds--even in Richter, who brilliantly executes them, and Nikolaeva, who uncovers nooks and crannies in them never glimpsed before. If one has to resort to rather trite sounding phrases, I would say that Feinberg plays the soul of this music as no one else really has. More musicologically, if indeed the Baroque conceit is that each piece should express an (only one?) affection, then Feinberg has plumbed deeply into this set to bring out that aspect of the music.



Even saying this still leaves some part of this recording untouched. The way I arrive at it, is that I imagine Feinberg, in Stalin's relentlessly grim Russia (dead though Stalin was in 1959), undertaking to record this music. There's something intensely human about pouring your soul out through music like this in the wake of Stalin--perhaps one of the very few allowable ways to finally let your pain and hope and faith in beauty find expression without vanishing into the censor's office or the Gulag yourself. But even without this historically dubious expatiation, I think that it is exceptionally apparent how much of a labor of love performing this music is for Feinberg. It seems as if the whole of the frailty of human existence is at stake in this recording--which does not mean that it is merely grim. There's as much light here as sadness, the whole world in fact.



And in the final analysis, it may be that that makes this collection magical. For composers, their monuments to human spirit are made public over and over by orchestras. For performers, such monuments are not always so apparent, or are scattered across a wide body of work, if they even make one. For Feinberg (who was also a composer), this is his."

Amazing

David C. Moses | Taipei, Taiwan | 06/08/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Inspired by the ravings of the other customer reviewers, Imanaged to find this set at a library and have a listen. Wow...it iseverything that they claim. Whereas so many others play the WTC like a series of exercises, Feinberg makes it into Music. The recording does not sound modern, but it is still a high-quality recording, and the analog warmth only enhances the effect of the performance. Check out the C# major prelude from WTC Book 1 -- if there is a heaven and somehow I get let in, I expect the music there to sound like Feinberg's performance of that prelude."