A monument in the history of Western music, The Well-Tempered Clavier
represents not only the culmination of J. S. Bach's own maturation
process but also the impetus for the emerging style and structure of
modern keyboard music. Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin were influenced by
its polyphonic richness and depth of harmony, and Schumann counseled
young musicians to make The Well-Tempered Clavier your daily bread.
Modern pianists can follow Schumann's advice with this new edition of an
authoritative and long-out-of-print score that offers illuminating
perspectives from a pair of eminent musical interpreters.
Book I of this two-volume set features Sir Donald Francis Tovey's
analyses of 24 preludes and fugues, including suggestions for
performance. In addition to commentaries by Tovey, a lauded Bach scholar
and world-famous musicologist, the pieces are complemented by fingerings
devised by Harold Samuel, a major Bach interpreter. Students, teachers,
and professionals will appreciate this finely engraved and modestly
priced version of Bach's enduring works.