In the second Wohltemperirte Clavier, Bach readily embraced the modern sonata form, in his own way, and this extensive 21st prelude is an interesting illustration of that. The theme – at the time as widely known as a jazz standard today – is used in every conceivable way. After the lengthy prelude, the fugue remains surprisingly brief, and Bach loses no time in dragging us into the action. Because the parts change places, as it were, new and harmonically exciting combinations continue to emerge naturally.

Twenty years after his first collection of music in every key imaginable, Bach completed a second 'Wohltemperirte Clavier'. We recorded his first book of Preludes and Fugues at the homes of 24 different musicians. For this second part, performed in its entirety by Christine Schornsheim, we chose 12 very different locations in Utrecht, to celebrate the 900th anniversary of our home city.

Recorded for the project All of Bach on on 24 September 2022 at Acanthus Antiquariaat, Utrecht, the Netherlands. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel https://bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating https://bit.ly/3J5uprM.

For the interview with Christine Schornsheim on the Wohltemperirte Clavier II and the process of recording this in its entirety, see    • Schornsheim on the Well-Tempered Clav...  
For more information on BWV 890 and this production go to https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/...

All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and its guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material on https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allo.... For concert dates and tickets go to https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/conc....

Christine Schornsheim, harpsichordist
Harpsichord: Bruce Kennedy, 1989 after Michael Mietke

0:00 Prelude
7:24 Fugue