Bach: Small Preludes - Volume 2

Description

The pieces contained in this volume prepare the student for the playing in three and four parts that is required for the perfomance of the three-part inventions and the French suites. They are most appropriately incorporated into the teaching material after the two-part inventions have been studied. New technical problems, such as the passing under and over of fingers without using the thumb and the rapid substitution of fingers on one key, must here be solved.

In order to make the fonn clear, the notation has been simplified as much as possible; the indications of fingering remain quite complicated enough, even though they cannot by far show all the possibilities. lt is necessary to adapt the fingerings to the mobility and span of the particular player's hands, whilst retaining the chosen phrasings to the best of his ability. Isolated notes which require a span exceeding the octave have been placed in brackets; the performance of the ornaments is shown in footnotes. As in the first volume, the missing dynamic and tempo indications must be supplied by the performer himself in accordance with the character of each piece.

Especial attention must be paid in polyphonic music to the problem of phrasing and articulation. The editor's suggestions can be replaced by other solutions that make musical sense; these should then be written into the parts. An intensive preoccupation with polyphone structures can even at an early age increase the understanding and love of the musical work of art.

Heinz Walter, Salzburg, Summer 1977