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I decided to close 2020 by relearning the Bach two part inventions, and soon I’ll make a proper recording of them, but until then I’m doing uploads on YouTube.

Unfortunately my videos on Instagram keep being blocked and on YouTube I keep getting copyright claims but hopefully I can soldier through this minor set back!

I invite you to enjoy the first two part inventions here:

https://youtu.be/UglAEAuFCBA

By the way they’re not that easy!

Joseph, that's lovely playing! And I agree, they're not easy! My first introduction with them was Invention 13. It took a long time to learn the notes, and an even longer time to get proper voicing and articulation throughout. I know that I have to dive back into them, but I'm in no hurry

Looking forward to watching/listening to the rest.

Thanks Joseph for sharing; I’m looking forward to the complete set

Thank you for posting Joseph ! They are not easy to play well.
Every piano pupil should ideally learn some.. Thank you, you inspire many by your musical playing !

Thank you for posting. Beautifully played, Joseph.

Happy New Year!

There is also other video sites to post videos on. Rumble, Brighteon etc.
-chris

Thank you, Joe. I loved the interplay between left and right.

Best wishes for 2021

Yes, they're not that easy, or to be more precise, it's pretty easy to play each hand independently, but putting the hands together is lots more difficult. I detect some wrist rotation with your playing--did you just happen to play that way, or is your teacher savvy enough to each it to you? Many advanced pianists and teachers don't understand that very important technique. BTW, when I play the inventions, I leave out the trills--I find them to fusty. With the trills left out, the pieces seem more universal to me and less tied to a certain era.

Well noticed. It's not actually wrist rotation but forearm rotation, since the movement is initiated in the forearm and not the wrist alone. It didn't just happen, I am happy to admit that my technique is an acquired skill, which is mainly down to the dedication of my first teacher, who was a student of Tobias Matthay. I was with her for seven years and we did a full diet of Czerny, Burgmuller, Scales and Arpeggios, Chopin, core repertoire. It was rigorous and difficult but it made many other things much easier later on. When I went to the conservatoire in Glasgow, my teacher there was taught by Harold Craxton, who was a student of Tobias Matthay, and her first teacher was a lady in Dundee called Mattie Bird, who was in Tobias Matthay's class as well at the same time as my own first teacher. Forearm rotation is always used in Matthay trained pianists to aid finger work, but it's one of a few motions used, and is always as well as finger work and not instead of finger work.

Well stated. Of course, it's forearm rotation, but the purpose is to rotate the wrist/hand. As you say, it's a valuable technique.

J:
The only time I ever heard a digital sing.
K

Nice recording.
Can I ask when it comes to tempos with the Inventions. Is the speed indicated generally to be followed, or at your discretion for technique development? In other words, I guess would Bach be happier to see these played clean and faster to suggested tempo?

Well, Bach didn’t indicate speeds as such, he left no indication of metronome marks because the metronome didn’t exist in his day, and he rarely used Italian tempo indications. In Bach’s day, tempos were indicated by the style, and it’s still a rather contentious subject exactly what tempos should be used. With that in mind I go for clarity of line and counterpoint above all things, and I strive to make sure each note is in its proper place. Honestly I don’t think Bach would like his music to be used simply to build speed, and nor is speed playing even the greater part of technique. I know Lisitsa plays them fast and Gould plays them slow and everyone else sits somewhere in between.