Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
          Solo Keyboard Music

Well Tempered Clavier Book I, BWV 846-869
Till Fellner, piano
Recorded Jugendstiltheater, Vienna, September 2002
Released April 2004
ECM New Series 1853/54  B0002285-02 [116:58]

Most readers have likely heard of Glenn Gould, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav
Richter, Rosalyn Tureck, Andras Schiff, Angela Hewitt, Samuel Feinberg,
and Friedrich Gulda.  In addition to being outstanding pianists, each
has recorded Bach's Well Tempered Clavier and received great praise.
As a result, it is treacherous repertoire to enter.  The chances that
any new piano recording will compare well to the established favorites
are quite low, and Till Fellner has not previously recorded any Bach at
all.  Therefore, he faces an immense challenge.

Given that Fellner is hardly a household name, one would think that
the ECM liner notes would provide a few paragraphs about this young man
- one would be wrong.  Absolutely nothing is said about Fellner, although
there are two photographs of him at the piano.  I do own a couple of
Fellner discs on Erato, one of Schubert solo piano music and the other
having two Beethoven Piano Concertos.  I haven't heard either disc for
a few years, and my memory of them is rather vague.

One thing I won't have for many years is a vague recollection of Fellner's
Well Tempered Clavier.  His performances exhibit a well defined style
informed by lean textures of pristine quality, rounded contours, subtle
intensity, and exceptional detail of inner voices and overall voice
interplay.  Legato phrasing is emphasized, while Fellner's staccato is
lightly applied.  His readings tend to be very warm and affectionate,
playing down the power and bite in Bach's music.

The warmth of Fellner's performances is shown to wonderful advantage
in many of the pieces and is best exhibited in the Preludes in C major,
C sharp major, and B major.  Fellner clearly conveys his love of this
music with a glow that penetrates the listener.

The most compelling aspect of Fellner's interpretations comes from the
Bach fugues that sound as if Bach is dissecting the dark side of the
soul.  These pieces, such as the Fugues in D sharp minor, F minor, and
B flat minor, are quite bleak in outlook with infrequent but heavenly
rays of light.  Fellner plays these pieces superbly with an incisive
sense of inevitability that rivals the performances of Gustav Leonhardt.
Also, Fellner is more lyrical than Leonhardt with more supple phrasing.
After listening to Fellner, I feel that my underside has been 'sliced
and diced'.  His bleak and severe presentations are infectious, making
Bach's rays of light all the more stunning and enlightening.

I mentioned that Fellner plays down the music's power and bite, and this
feature is the only reservation I have about the performances.  In pieces
such as the Preludes in C minor and A minor, Fellner can be rather subdued
and very much the opposite of the fiery Gould and Richter.  It isn't
that Fellner tries to be fiery but can't succeed; he obviously has no
interest in conveying these tremendous emotional surges.

As for the soundstage, it is well detailed and rich with a little more
reverberation than I find ideal.  However, it is certainly high-grade
modern sound that you won't find in the treasured sets from Gould, Tureck,
and Gulda.  The liner notes are exceptional in offering the 'long view',
but there are at least a couple of 'typos' in the track listings.

Don's Conclusions: It is rare to come across Bach performances of the
warm and glowing variety (the "Papa Bach" category) co-mingled with
striking portrayals of the underside of the human condition.  This is
what Tell Fellner offers us, and only Rosalyn Tureck in her Deutsche
Grammophon set is equally effective in providing this mix of qualities.

In terms of other comparisons, Fellner sounds very much like Keith
Jarrett at first blush.  However, further examination reveals that
Fellner's rhythms are more elastic than Jarrett's, and Jarrett is
light-years away from the incisive emotional messages conveyed by Fellner.
Another recording of the Well Tempered Clavier that has similarity with
Fellner's is the Nonesuch from Edward Aldwell, but Aldwell's textures
are much fuller.

Ultimately, I consider the Fellner set an essential acquisition.  I may
prefer Tureck and Gould by a small margin, but those recordings show
their age.  Therefore, there's room at the top for an exceptional modern
set of performances, and Fellner more than meets the high standards
needed to attain such a position in the Bach discography.

Don Satz
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