Das Wohltemperierte Clavier II, Praeludium VI

Description

Running on without a pause for breath, this D minor prelude is one of the fastest and most technical in Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier, where it is the sixth piece.

It is in D minor and 3/4. Rapid scale and broken-chord figures pass between the hands and race through without a break. Written mainly in two voices, it keeps alternating between one hand running while the other supports. The figuration is consistent, and the music keeps its momentum to the end as it moves through a series of keys. Its range runs from C-sharp 2 to B5, within a 61-key keyboard.

Rated advanced, it packs 1,079 notes into about 1 minute 33 seconds in this data, a considerable density. The task is to give the fast figures the same evenness in both hands so the joins where they pass from one hand to the other do not show, which calls for finger independence and stamina. Check which hand has the figure with the hand colours, and start with the playback slowed down a lot before raising it gradually; isolating the hard spots with an A-B loop also helps.

Bach's collection of preludes and fugues for keyboard, covering all 24 keys and regarded as the summit of contrapuntal writing.