The Well-Tempered Clavier’s Greatest Hits with Jeremy Denk

Watch our live video stream as pianist Jeremy Denk curates and performs a series of events exploring Bach’s life and his most iconic work as artist-in-residence at The Greene Space at WQXR.
Tonight, join Denk for analysis and interpretation as he kicks off his residency with a deep dive into four of the most fascinating moments from Book 1 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier.
A winner of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, Denk will draw audiences into the technical, musicological, cultural and philosophical elements involved in his own approach to this deeply personal work, and through this series look at how these timeless themes and shared aspects of the human experience can help to unite us in these divided times.

[@freddievaldez6587]

Awesome. Just found this treasure. I now have a Bach teacher to help me understand why I love his music. I play bach's pieces on my guitar at a very rudimentary level and since I'm always left wanting for lack of skill, I keep going back to the same pieces with a thirst for connecting to that grandeur of the wonder of Bach. Thank you Mr. Denk!

[@stevejordan6242]

Wonderful! I have been working through Book I for the past couple of years (78-year old amateur). Your interpretation of the C sharp minor set is deep and wise.

[@oldionus]

Like you, I am essaying the WTC in old age. I hope to live long enough to play through all of it, and all the Suites and the Goldbergs. As a pure amateur. (I'm just shy of 70 so it's not impossible, I hope!)

[@MegaLtan]

So many great reflections on so many great themes. One is the centrality of open space, absence, dark matter... eg at 57’ “We pause for a moment on that diminished seventh chord to hear the subject not finish itself...” 🙏👍

[@johnpipkin7198]

Unbelievably illuminating, and I have known these pieces for 40 years. Thank you !

[@mercedesgalvins6132]

What a fantastic teacher

[@darrickxiao1817]

your understanding of Bach's work is incredible. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderfully informative and inspiring video

[@debs4mysweetbaby]

Fabulous!! Just fabulous!! Jeremy you are a pleasure!!💜

[@TheTmackey]

What a great gift from Jeremy and Green Space! We are seeing him tomorrow at Caramoor playing the WTC. Yet another gift. Thanks!

[@YuanJane]

Just a music lover and beginiing piano learner here. Absolute love how you present the piece and detailed explanation. Hopefully you'd share more of these fun moments with us.

[@JeffFontanesi]

For the last few months I've been on a quest to try to understand why Bach, like no other, forces tears of joy from me almost every day. Thank you for putting into words (and music) what I feel, but am far from comprehending.

[@nevskixx]

Very moving personal journey through some wonderful music that is nothing less than a miracle. Thank you for making this JD.I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even the "slightly out of tune" piano!

[@patrickwetterlov7332]

Fantastic presentation!

[@dburjorjee]

Loved it. Thanks Mr Denk.

[@dominiqueelliott]

When Bach "goes bananas"... So, so great! Thank you for sharing this marvelous lecture.

[@tomloomis9523]

Thanks so much, M. Denk! to follow you with the music in hand, was a great treat indeed!

[@tomdamascene]

Brilliant stuff - wish he was in the UK more often.

[@vKarl71]

I LOVE this!! I hope you will do this sort of thing whenever you have the impulse. It enriches the music wonderfully! Thank you.

[@adadzamic6442]

Such brilliant musicality and expression!

[@carolkosterka9148]

Thank you for sharing your “favorites’. This was fabulous. We will miss you at the Music Academy of the West this summer.

[@robertfoster6070]

Last year Elisey Mysin performed Bach's well tempered caviar BWV 851 at the house of music in Moscow as part of a solo concert. Afterwards he played Beethoven bagatelles, Chopin mazurkas, a waltz by Tchaikovsky and Debussy's Children's corner and a Festive Waltz Elisey had composed himself.

[@ichtube]

Thanks for sharing this. Really enjoyed. Wondering though, is the reversal of the hands the 'strange loop' aspect of Bach? I'm thinking about the book GEB which I haven't read.

[@bchill69]

Performance ---Preludes and Fugues C# 20:00 c 36:35 c# 58:58 D 1:18:47 F# 1:22:17

[@lyolevrich]

very very good pianist musician and “mensch”

[@andrewanderson6121]

Thanks for this--and especially for including the F# pair, a particular favorite of mine and I appreciate thar begin the trill in the subject on the principal note! I believe the same applies to the trill beginning g the subject of the F# in book 2 as well--otherwise you lose the whole point of beginning on the leading tone! One more thing I'd like to mention as I'm constantly on the lookout for specific easily hearable instances of where Chopin uses Bach material directly, and I'm convinced that the f# prelude (bk,1) is the basis of Chopin's op. 10, no. 4. What do you think?

[@genebell-villada2794]

I was surprised at his fast, bouncy approach to the F# major. I've always heard it--and played it--as something moderato tempo and lyrical,].

[@brianbuch1]

Indeed. I liked all the others, but I think the repeated note figure in the fugue can have a certain poignancy when played a bit more slowly. Lyrical rather than relentless drive in this one, I think is the way to go. The prelude is bouncy but in a quiet, not an over-energetic fashion. My image is of a stream running over rocks--a "bach", in fact.

[@rozalinapiano]

It’s about time for Bach to sound like other good music, without fearing of violating so called “period’s” lack of emotional expression. And thanks to this daring, I appreciate this effort, despite many arguments that arise from the personal interpretations (And this personal interpretation issue needs to be stated by the performer, since the novice Bach’s fans may think that the comments are Bach’s original composer’s intentions...). I wonder how much more rich these pieces can appear, after Denk discovers that Bach actually had in his possession the new, dynamically capable keyboard with hammer action

[@herrickinman9303]

Your notion that "the period" lacks emotional expression derives from the false assumption that the score, which typically has few performance directions, reflects the composer's full intentions. It doesn't. This is early music. A working definition of early music is music where the score does NOT represent the composer's full intentions. You have to understand Baroque performance practice to begin to play music of the period properly.

[@rozalinapiano]

@@herrickinman9303 This isn’t my notion, but Bach’s. And there are docs to prove it. Genius composer had made multitude of efforts to reform his time’s convention and was reprimanded for that a number of times. His risk taking for his ARTivist’s strive was far ahead of his time and it appears to be still far ahead of many minds during our time also. Resentment to change has been very serious impediment for the human civilization and it has brought us to the brink of extinction, with very few chances to survive. And to motivate ppl to overcome such compound trauma he had created music that can be used very effectively to help repattern it... However, only if it is played according to his passionate strive of rebel against dangerous trend of zombilization.

[@herrickinman9303]

@@rozalinapiano Blah, blah, blah. I challenge you to prove your claim: "This isn’t my notion, but Bach’s. And there are docs to prove it." By "genius composer," I'll assume you mean Bach. Give examples of his supposed efforts to reform conventions, of being reprimanded for doing so, and of taking risks for his art.

[@tvine1]

Well done, Jeremy. The vocal audio is a little low, tho…. Thanks for posting.

[@steveastle7879]

Extraordinary! Though I’m having trouble getting past the 259 “likes.” Surely that’s off by a factor of at least 1000 - it’s 259K likes, right? And those two thumbs-down ratings…very suspicious. I’m guessing that one was from the sergeant-at-arms of the Society for the Advancement of Piano Tuners and the other was from that girl who had a crush on JD in the 7th grade and never recovered from his cheerful indifference toward her. Who else would give this anything but an enthusiastic thumbs-up?

[@Sloimer]

You might be overthinking it.

[@oldionus]

I actually thought for a moment, when it was all you could see, that the stain on the door was an antique map and was trying to figure out what place in the world it was.

[@erickaplan2480]

Zooka barooka!

[@banjoboy01]

your well out of tune piano helped me think about the lute where I must tweak the frets

[@jonnsmusich]

I love everything you say, except Bach didn't have or hear a modern temperament piano. We do not know what temperament he used, exactly, and you'll know the music can sound quite different in other temperaments. And then there's the plucked string thing. So, yes all you say is nice for us but maybe not so much for Bach?

[@That_Idiot_Bass_Player]

Denk memes

[@susanmaddison5947]

Some considerations on the c#. You're right it's the best of the best. You miss some important things though. The inversion in the prelude gives a clue: the original down-figure ends on its 5th note, not the 6th, which is rather the lead note to the leap. On the fugue, spend those extra hours you talk about on it, not now but year after year if necessary. Someday surely you'll get it. No it's not the cross, that's the v.2 fugue in a, or Mozart's requiem, and to a lesser extent v.1 f. Anyway crucifying someone isn't austere either, it's full of wet blood. But this fugue instead expresses the most profound experience of secular life, one that Bach did not shy away from in his own life. It sanctifies this central experience, as we all should.

[@davidmoran5431]

Fascinating that Denk has made this entire promoted career via thoughtful, insightful, engaging commentary and writing (albeit saying and pointing out almost nothing truly new) coupled with plainspoken playing, all while not being really a particularly good pianist, not technically, not rhythmically strong, not much of anything compared with the other truly outstanding pianists out there. I mean, good for him; it's just remarkable how it has gone down, and for some time.

[@cellphysfan124]

Nevertheless, why not just appreciate the 'thoughtful, insightful, engaging' part? It's not terribly common to have such a person try to communicate (teach!) the wonderful aspects of this music, to help us appreciate it better. Comparisons: Andras Schiff's lectures from the piano, which are interesting but filled with putdowns (of other pianists, other composers, other instruments). Or Gould's video commentaries, which were just about himself, and not at all about the listener. So, yes, if I am lucky, I'll keep enjoying Denk's offerings for some time to come.

[@davidmoran5431]

@@cellphysfan124 I actually get more from Schiff (whose work I largely dislike) and Gould (whose work I like much), but yes about their emphases, and point taken otherwise. And Lord knows there are many pianists musically less interesting than Denk.

[@DeborahNewman]

Lovely! (But too much pedal.)