Don Satz gave his conceptions of Bach's WTI, vol I, preludes + fugues nos
1 - 4.

I'm interested to see that you view the WTI so much in 'romantic',
narrative terms.  Cortot, I think, did a lot of that sort of thing, eg
with the Chopin preludes, and Tausig saw the Barcarolle as the meeting
of two lovers (being able to pinpoint the kiss down to the very chord).
Looking at my score again, I can sort of see where your ideas are coming
from.  It's just that I would never have pinpointed the moods with such
concrete precision.  Did these images solidify over years of listening, or
were they inspired by particular interpretations? When I listen to the last
few minutes of Rachmaninoff's recording of his 3rd concerto, I can't help
thinking of two lovers parting as one of them hurries to get on a train
that is about to leave (and does so in the last octave flourish).

Felix Delbruck
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