Continuing our journey through the Well-Tempered Clavier book 2, today we’ll listen to the D minor and E flat major sets, catalogued as BWV 875 and 876 respectively. Our version today is by the Canadian harpsichordist Kenneth Gilbert, playing on a Flemish 1671 harpsichord by Jan Crouchet with subsequent 18th century modifications by French makers Blanchet and Taskin. The instrument is kept at the Italian Room of the Chartres Museum and is tuned at low pitch – about a full tone lower than the modern standard.

D minor

Maybe because of the key, the meter, or the opening motif, this prelude is reminiscent of the D minor harpsichord concerto. It’s written completely in 2 voices with busy, constant 16th notes that convey a sense of restlessness. The 3-voice fugue presents a theme that combines a pattern of 16th note triplets with a contrasting motif of eighth notes descending chromatically. The theme appears inverted as well.

E flat major

This prelude is a calm, rocking triple time (9/8), and since we’re looking for similarities, this one brought me to the famous chorale from Cantata 147, “Jesu, joy of man’s desiring”. The fugue, in 4 voices, has a long, severe subject in cut time, solidly rooted in “stilo antico”, with successive entrances widely separated by 6, 7 or even 8 bars.