Bach's Keyboard Music

                 List of Bach's Solo Keyboard Compositions

                 Bach's Best Solo Keyboard Works Poll 

      The Goldberg Variations  (1741)

             Glenn Gould, piano  -  1981 recording session  (play -  51 minutes)

             Lang Lang, piano  (play - 1 hour 33 min - Lang Lang's performance  is about twice 

             as long as Gould's because he plays all of Bach's repeats while Gould does not).

      The Well-Tempered Clavier I  (1722)     (online piano)

            Sviatoslav Richter, piano  (play - 1 hour 45 minutes)  Audio only

           Dror Briran, piano  (play - 1 hour 52 min)  Live video

            Siebe Henstra and many others, harpsichord  (play - 1 hour 52 min)


                 Video -  Goodall - Even Temperament  (5:15) 

                 Video -  BBC - The Well Tempered Clavier  (5:00)

     The Well-Tempered Clavier II  (1742)

           András Schiff, piano  (play - 1 hour 45 minutes)

Other significant large Bach keyboard works:


      English Suites  (c. 1715?)  (6 - about 20 minutes each)  (Not so English!)

                András Schiff, piano (play - 2 hours) 


      French Suites  (1722-1725)  (6 - about 15 minutes each)  (Very French)

               András Schiff, piano (play - 1 hour 40 mins) 

      Partitas (for Harpsichord), BWV 825–830  (1725 - c. 1730)  (6 - about 20 min each)  

 

               The Partitas are also known as Clavier-Übung I (Keyboard Practices I).  

               They are also (dance movement) suites.

           No. 825  -  András Schiff, piano  (play - 17:20)

           No. 826  -  Martha Argerich, piano  (play - 19:30)

           No. 827  -  András Schiff, piano  (play - 14:45)

           No. 828  -  Stephen Kovacevich, piano  (play - 22:10)

           No. 829  -  András Schiff, piano  (play - 16 min)

           No. 830  -  Murray Perahia, piano  (play - 30 min)

      Clavier-Übung II, for harpsichord with two manuals,  (pub. 1735), contains

   

                The French Overture,  BWV 831  (Overture in the French style)  

                       (also a Baroque suite)

                             András Schiff, piano (play - 31 minutes) 

               The Italian Concerto, BWV 971 (Concerto in the Italian taste)  

                      (a three movement concerto w/o orchestra)

                             András Schiff, piano (play - 12:20 minutes) 

      Inventions (15) and Sinfonias (15), BWV 772–801  (1723)  (about 55 minutes total)

                         (aka.  The Two and Three Part Inventions).  These are contrapuntal 

                           works, sort of simplistic fugues.

                       Monica Leone, piano  (play - 55 minutes)

      (7) Toccatas for Keyboard, BWV 910–916  (by 1720)

                        Claire Huangci, piano  (play - 35 minutes)

      The Art of the Fugue  (Die Kunst der Fuge)  (late 1740s, pub. 1751)

           The Art of the Fugue was not completed at Bach's death in 1750.  14 fugues and 4 canons 

            were composed,  but not (yet?) scored for particular instruments.  So today they are played 

            on organ, harpsichord or piano, or by small vocal and instrumental chamber groups or 

            larger orchestras.

                           Marta Czech, piano   (play - 80 minutes)