Sigh Lawns

These compositions are so nearly perfect, it is hard to believe they were composed by an animal.

Although we could have played them perfectly (timing and velocity accuracy more precise than the limits of human hearing), we have incorporated minor fluctuations, or "errors", in note timing and velocity to help soothe the idiosyncratic auditory system of homo sapiens. ("Sapiens"... That always makes us laugh.) For the most part, we have not introduced the bizarrely "interpretive" and self-indulgent fluctuations in tempo and volume that a certain clique of apes considers expressive, preferring to allow Bach's compositions to speak for themselves. That is not to say these performances lack the appropriate dynamics when considered in the contexts of tradition and scholarship.

Here, then, we offer "Das Wohltemperirte Klavier" (Book I), as the composer might have dreamed it would sound, had he dreamed anachronistically of a Steinway grand piano.

• Original Manuscript: Das Wohltemperirte Klavier
• German: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier
• English: The Well-Tempered Clavier

Acknowledgments:

Johann Sebastian Bach

for these marvelous compositions.

Justin Frankel

for programming our brain.

Dan Phillips and the "086" team

for creating our instrument.

Jim Strider

for teaching us everything we know about music. (Admittedly the weak link in this chain, but we are grateful nonetheless.)

Purchase "The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1"

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jim@redirts.com

Go Bears!