Bach - WTC II Prelude and fugue no. 17 in No. 17 in A-flat major BWV 886 | Netherlands Bach Society

In this challenging diptych - performed here for All of Bach by Christine Schornsheim - pieces from very different periods come together. Bach wrote his prelude - a good example of Bach’s late style, in which the modern ‘sonata form’ determines how it unfolds - around 1741. The fugue began life around 1720 as the fughetta BWV 901, and almost 25 years later it was given a real upgrade. It demonstrates just how much freedom Bach has acquired over the years. Twenty years after his first collection of music in every key imaginable, Bach completed a second ’Wohltemperirte Clavier’. We recorded his first book of Preludes and Fugues at the homes of 24 different musicians. For this second part, performed in its entirety by Christine Schornsheim, we chose 12 very different locations in Utrecht, to celebrate the 900th anniversary of our home city. Christine Schornsheim on the choice of the Provincial House for this recording: “Proud, perfect and grand. The prelude is proud and lofty like this skyscraper.