J.S. Bach: The Well-tempered Clavier, Book I [Live, March 1987] (2019)

performed by Keith Jarrett (piano)
composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett has recorded a good deal of Bach's music, secure enough to experiment in his home at the ECM label. In 1988, he issued a recording of Bach's Das wohltemperierte Klavier. Before it's release (although after he had made the studio recording) came this performance, recorded live at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in upstate New York. (Abundant applause is retained, at the end of the first half and at the very end.) The two recordings are not drastically different; although the studio version is ... Read More

Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett has recorded a good deal of Bach's music, secure enough to experiment in his home at the ECM label. In 1988, he issued a recording of Bach's Das wohltemperierte Klavier. Before it's release (although after he had made the studio recording) came this performance, recorded live at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in upstate New York. (Abundant applause is retained, at the end of the first half and at the very end.) The two recordings are not drastically different; although the studio version is sonically cleaner, the present recording gives a sense of immediacy. The Troy venue has a remarkable sense of intimacy preserved here by the engineers. For those unfamiliar with Jarrett's Bach recordings, it may come as a surprise to learn that he leans toward the conservative side. He uses a modern piano, but states explicitly that music written for the harpsichord shouldn't stray too far from what a harpsichord is capable of, and that Bach's music does not need his assistance. His... Read Less