The preludes/fugues in E and e are next on the agenda.  Highlighted themes
involve puppets, dancing, exuberant labor, prayer, impending doom, and
carnage:

17.  Prelude in E - Night is cascading down on a New England town.  In a
small store-front toy shop, the owner is closing up for the day.  He climbs
the stairs to his 2nd floor studio residence, leaving the store silent.
Upon his departure, little wooden puppets spring to life and start dancing
together.  This is not wild or energetic dancing, but dancing of a delicate
nature in keeping with the delicate construction of the puppets.  The
dancing continues until dawn starts to break, and the puppets return to
their original postions.  Bach provides music of great fragility in this
prelude.  Schepkin almost gets it right, but I felt that he was a little
too restrained.  *3*

18.  Fugue in E - The New England town is waking up and getting ready for
a day of commerce.  Store-front owners are quickly washing their display
windows, garage bay doors are opening, produce is being delivered and put
on display, etc.  There's an exuberance to the labor being applied, as if
each working person is receiving doses of confidence and strength with
every minute of work.  This is a bustling town, well aware that its
vitality is maintained through hard work.  Schepkin is great in this fugue,
fully capturing the uplifting nature of hard work, commerce, and
productivity.  *4*

19.  Prelude in e - All the villagers are huddled in the village square,
praying to their God for absolution of sins committed.  A scout has warned
the village elders that a hostile and large barbarian army is scorching the
land, killing all people in its way, and headed for them.  They have no
deterrent for such a force, and prayer is their only solace.  The music is
somber, slow, and reverent.  Suddenly, it turns fast and ominous as the
barbarian army can be heard galloping toward the village.  The noise gets
louder, and the residents become more panicky.  Fear is taking over.
Schepkin does a beautiful job; his playing which corresponds to the
oncoming horde is fully effective and chilling.  *4*

20.  Fugue in e - Hell is upon us.  The army has entered the village with
just one goal in mind, to savagely destroy everyone and everything.  They
leave no stone unturned.  Heads are cut off, babies thrown into a fiery
inferno, bodies dismembered.  None of this is done out of revenge or to
take over the village.  The only motivation is the satisfaction of human
destruction.  I see this fugue as testimony to the arbitrary yet strongly
focused nature of killing and mutilation for no other reason than to do it
- not a pretty picture of the underside of the human condition.  The images
that floated in my mind were never stronger than in Schepkin's
interpretation.  *4*

Don Satz
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