Bach - WTC II Prelude and fugue no. 15 in G major BWV 884 - Schornsheim | Netherlands Bach Society

Bach published his keyboard music with a clear didactic objective. If his students could master the increasingly complex works, they would slowly but surely attain the perfect autonomy – or autonomous perfection – of the ideal musician. The ’Wohltemperirte Clavier’ formed the pinnacle of this logic. However, that didn’t mean that all the preludes and fugues were equally highbrow. Take, for instance, the 15th pair of works from the WTC II, in the comfortable key of G major, which put on a great show of virtuosity, but are actually quite manageable with regard to technique. 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. Recorded for the project