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Susan Taylor's avatar

Andras Schiff is always worth listening to when he plays Bach, and I’ve grown to like piano Bach better than harpsichord Bach. Nice to imagine what Bach would have made of a modern piano. Invention 6 is really very beautiful played very slowly, more like an air than an invention. Also worth trying number 1 with triplets substituted for each instance where there’s a third interval in the sixteenth note pattern - really fun to play. Are you playing from a version that has fingerings? If not, they are worth seeking out. Even if you disagree with the fingering choices, it gets you to wrestle with them more, usually to your advantage.

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Dan Schmidt's avatar

I spent a year (on and off) memorizing and learning the inventions, both for my fingers and my brain. They're not easy!

Wow, that C minor performance is really slow; I like it to burble along a lot more. What you're hearing is that it's mostly a canon, the left hand imitating the right hand exactly with a delay of 2 measures; then the hands reverse lead and follower roles after the piece has modulated. Perfectly constructed.

My favorite of the inventions is the E major, which to me is an achingly romantic pas de deux between the two hands. (Yes, very slowly!) Number two is probably G minor, with such dextrous chromaticism. But they're all masterpieces, and I wish that the student repertoire included more than the four or so you always hear (C major, D minor, F major, A minor).

When I went around looking for performances that matched the way I thought of these pieces, I really liked Dina Ugorskaja's recording.

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