Samuel Feinberg and I have had some trouble getting together.  I had his
1959 complete set of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier but couldn't find it when
I started reviewing the WTC Books.  At some point I decided to order it,
but that turned out to be a difficult proposition.  So I just put myself
on hold concerning the matter, figuring that the set would enter my life
through some means/source.  And that's what happened last week in the used
bins at a local record store.  Although it's hard to imagine why anyone
would trade in the Feinberg set, that person has my strong appreciation for
the transaction.  He/she likely took the proceeds and purchased "A Tony
Orlando & Dawn Retrospective".

This 4-cd set is on the Russian Disc label with a catalog number of 15013.
It was released in 1994 and documents recording sessions held in Moscow
in 1959.  There are a host of Bach enthusiasts who swear by Feinberg's
Bach performances, citing the singing and devotional qualities of his
interpretations.  I would just add that Feinberg tends to take many
liberties with tempo and projection which some might well consider
fascinating and highly expressive while others would call these liberties
disruptive to what they feel is the natural flow of the music.  Prior to
starting the review process, I listened to the Feinberg set while doing a
host of domestic chores.  All I'll say at this point is that I frequently
left those tasks and zoomed into the living room as if Feinberg was
beckoning me to join him and Bach.

I'm going to go through each of Feinberg's Preludes & Fugues, comparing his
performances to the best piano versions I have available; now and then,
I'll also be referring to magical harpsichord readings.

Prelude in C major - I've commented in the past that this prelude *needs*
some interpretation; otherwise, it's not much more than a pleasant series
of scales.  No artist on record provides a more expressive reading than
Feinberg.  He bends tempo and volume at will, and I love every second of
it.  Just as expressive as Tureck, Feinberg also invests the prelude with
some of Gulda's drive to the finish line.  In a sense, Tureck goes to the
sides, Gulda goes forward, and Feinberg takes all directions.  I do believe
I prefer the Feinberg to these other two exceptional readings.  This is a
great beginning.

Fugue in C major - The great beginning continues with Feinberg's C major
Fugue.  Grounded on stretto and inevitability, this fugue has been superbly
represented by Gould and Richter.  Feinberg joins them with a reading
loaded with nuances.  He has the courage and artistry to soften and slow
down dramatically without losing any momentum; he gains poetry and
contrast.

Prelude in C minor - All great beginnings come to an end, and the C minor
Prelude finds Feinberg more than meeting his match in Glenn Gould.  The C
minor is one of Gould's magical Bach interpretations.  With staccato, a
sinister atmosphere, and the best build-up of tension I've heard in this
work, Gould makes this a two-climax prelude of great distinction.  Feinberg
is like a bullet compared to Gould; I admire the technique and the feeling
that can be absorbed within it, but he's just too fast to convey the degree
of riches that Gould finds in the score.  However, Feinberg is certainly
competitive with the other faster versions on record.

Fugue in C minor - Feinberg takes the powerful approach, and there's
nothing wrong there.  Richter does likewise and is one of my favorite
performances.  I do find that Feinberg's faster tempo doesn't give him
the luxury of being as detailed as Richter.  Still, it's an exciting and
worthy performance.

Prelude in C sharp major - In addition to having a pristine nature,
the prelude abounds with youthful joy and urgency.  Among piano versions,
I've preferred Hewitt's dreamy and mysterious reading, and Tureck's
highly incisive and stark performance.  Feinberg does have all the
basic ingredients on display, but high levels of urgency, mystery, and
incisiveness are not present.  This is another competitive performance
not rivaling the best.

Fugue in C sharp major - As joyful as its partner, the fugue also has
a nostalgic element which blends beautifully into the music's fabric.
Great performances range from Schiff's exquisitely delicate and expansive
journey to pristine lands to Gulda's detailed and inevitable march to the
finish line.  There are also plenty of other excellent versions as well.
Unfortunately, Feinberg's performance is not competitive.  He's fast,
probably too fast and sounds rushed at times.  Much of the beauty of this
music can't be found in Feinberg's performance.

Update:  Any failing that I'm noticing from the performances happens when
Feinberg adopts faster tempos than the norm; he loses quite a bit of beauty
and lyricism while picking up only small amounts of excitement.  So far,
it's not an approach I appreciate and is holding his set back from being
among the best.

Prelude in C sharp minor - Reflective and intensely sad, Feinberg is superb
in the prelude and at Tureck's exalted level.  Both bring out every nuance
of the prelude with great urgency and beauty.

Fugue in C sharp minor - More demonstrative than its partner, the fugue's
harmonic density intensifies as the music progresses.  The prelude reflects
and the fugue takes action.  Feinberg has total command of the music as he
tightens the tension while providing all the beauties of the piece.  This
is a version to stand tall next to Richter's magisterial reading.

Prelude in D major - With continuous semi-quavers coming from the right
hand and a staccato bass line from the left, this prelude is joyful,
playful, and deliciously sparkling.  Hewitt is outstanding here with as
she alternates volume levels and provides a bass line which is superbly
projected.  Feinberg is much quicker, less nuanced, and his bass line
is nowhere as well projected as Hewitt's.  Also, I can't say that his
performance has great sparkle to it.  The performance is competitive with
other very fast recorded versions.

Fugue in D major - This is heroic music with double-dotting which Hewitt
performs splendidly.  Feinberg does quite well, but his double-dotting is
not as pronounced or appealing as Hewitt's.

Prelude in D minor - The prelude, having an intense galloping element
from the right hand's broken chords, is dark and foreboding in mood.
My two favorite versions, Schiff and Fischer, present quite different
conceptions.  Schiff is slow paced and reveals all the details of the
architecture; it's a wonderful performance to become immersed in.  You
don't want to be immersed in Fischer's version very long because he will
terrorize you with great tension and menace.  Feinberg takes the Fischer
route and is very effective; he provides some rhythmic variation and
beautifully slows down at the conclusion.  But, there's no possibility
of his out-menacing Fischer.

Fugue in D minor - All of Feinberg's greatest attributes as a Bach
performing artist come to the forefront in the D minor Fugue.  His
intuitive knack to change tempo and volume at the right moment, great
sense of momentum, and ability to find every morsel of poetry and nuance
add up to the best reading I have ever heard.  Feinberg reminds me some
of Fischer's excellent performance loaded with tension, but Feinberg goes
well beyond tension and gloriously opens up the music.

Prelude in E flat major - This majestic music comes in three sections:
a toccata-like opening, slow ricercar, and a quick double fugue.  It all
adds up to one of Bach's most life-affirming creations.  Tureck is magical
in the E flat major; it feels as if she could take all life under her
wings.  Feinberg doesn't get to that point, and his penchant for taking
very fast tempos is the reason.  His opening is too fast as is the double
fugue.  The result is certainly competitive with most alternative versions
but well below the highest level.

Fugue in E flat major - This is another instance where Feinberg uses a
speed which provides no advantages.  The music possesses great momentum and
is light and joyful.  Feinberg's fast tempo is not necessary to display
those elements, and I don't think that the excitement route is the most
rewarding for this fugue.

Prelude in E flat minor - This is the type of Bach's music that Feinberg
is best at - slow and seriously reflective.  I love the boldness he invests
the music with and his fantastic accenting.  There's not a better version
to be heard.

Fugue in D sharp minor - This is also reflective music but with greater
severity than the E flat minor, although the fugue also has wonderfully
uplifting passages as well.  Again, the music and Feinberg are a perfect
match.  The only version I prefer is Leonhardt's which has stronger
inevitability.

Prelude in E major - Sublime joy combined with tension from the minor mode
make this prelude one of Bach's most delightful.  There are many great
versions, and Feinberg's is one of them.  I was a little concerned that
he would turn on the speed burners, but his tempo is a little slower than
Fischer's and no problem at all.  His interpretation is not one of the more
comforting, but the tension and joy are at high levels.

Fugue in E major - Exuberance and confidence are the emotional themes of
this fugue which has running 16th notes in perpetual motion.  I hear the
music as heralding the beginning of a day of bustling commerce in times
of great prosperity, sort of a tribute to individual industry.  Jando
and Schepkin perform strongly and with great vitality.  That's also the
approach taken by Feinberg, but it does not succeed very well.  Although
he starts off fine, Feinberg soon gets a little messy with the phrasing
and sounds rushed.  I don't find this performance a competitive one.

Update:  When looking back to the Feinberg performances reviewed which
I find no better than competitive, a relatively fast tempo is always
involved.  This has me thinking of Rosalyn Tureck who rarely gets into
very fast speeds.  She knows her strengths and with little exception plays
into them.  Feinberg doesn't seem to have this trait in full supply.  Very
fast tempos can work wonderfully and quite often for artists like Gould
and Richter, but I don't hear anything that tells me Feinberg is in this
particular category.  Overall, his performances so far would easily rate
a strong recommendation, but those fast speeds hinder them from being at
Tureck's level.

Prelude in E minor - The prelude comes with two sections; the first is
prayerful with growing levels of intensity, the second is rapid-fire and
ominous.  Suzuki's harpsichord version on BIS is as good as it gets.  His
first section is brooding and heating up with the smell of carnage in the
air; the second section finds emotional hell and panic.  This is a version
to treasure.  Feinberg's first section is also treasureable but for
different reasons.  He looks inward with prayer; Suzuki always has the
periscope up.  In the second section, Feinberg heads in Suzuki's direction
but can't quite reach his level of impending doom.  Overall, Feinberg is
mighty fine in the E minor.

Fugue in E minor - The hell on earth anticipated by the prelude comes to
fruition in the fugue; however, you have to switch from Suzuki to Richter
to fully get there.  I've called Richter's version the "slash and burn"
fugue.  With razor-sharp strokes, Richter's evil leaves nobody breathing
or in one piece.  The underside of human thought and activity has climbed
to the top.  But does Feinberg see it that way? If he does, it's only
sporadically.  Feinberg smooths out many of the razor-sharp and bold
strokes and invests the music with more poetry than Richter.  Since I'm
not concerned much with the poetic possibilties, I'll take the relentless
Richter every time.

Prelude in F major - Both the Prelude and Fugue give me a strong sense
of community; joy is definitely the prevailing emotional theme.  In the
Prelude, Schepkin's version is exceptional with fast tempo, excitement, and
a full measure of life's pleasures.  The same can be said for Feinberg's
version; he unfortunately does not enjoy the excellent sound provided
Schepkin.

Fugue in F major - There isn't much point in comparing the Feinberg to
the great performances by Jarrett or Fischer.  Feinberg's in his own class;
whether that's favorable or not depends on the listener's preferences.
Personally, I find his frequent shifts in volume and tempo annoying; I also
feel that he romanticizes the music.  This is the first time in the set
that I've had this reaction and hope it's the last.

Prelude & Fugue in F minor - This sequence is one of the most powerful in
Book I.  Intense levels of resignation and despair combine with some of the
most beautiful and uplifiting passages to create its own world which is at
once supremely optimistic and also neurotically headed toward destruction.
The Prelude has a particularly gorgeous passage about 30" into the piece.
The Fugue is even more intense, but also has wonderful rays of light
provided by diatonic passages which contrast exquisitely with the
prevailing moods.

I listened to outstanding performances from Gulda, Tureck, Fischer, Schiff,
and Aldwell.  Feinberg's Prelude is as good as any of those, but it's the
Fugue where he eclipses all comers.  When I was listening to Gulda, I
thought that his could not be bettered; Feinberg changed that assessment
from the start.  He's incisively sharp and bold, never missing any nuance.
His forward momentum is perfect while he also explores every note which
leads him to a far greater level of expressiveness than Gulda or any other
artist.  I think of Gulda's version as a full-length story; Feinberg's is
an epic.

I feel I've taken Feinberg far enough in Part 1, so I'll end on this note.
Previously, I had mentioned the one aspect of Feinberg's performances
which is not appealing - a tendency in a few pieces to not play into his
strengths, to use faster than average tempos.  That situation still exists
at this point.  However, the remainder of the performances, and that's most
of them, are excellently performed and interpreted.  In addition, a few are
majestic and magical readings.

Don Satz
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