J.S. Bach made a keyboard music book for his eldest son, the Klavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. In it are several early versions of preludes found in the Well-Tempered Clavier. The first prelude, in C major, is one of Bach's most famous pieces, and the piece that initially attracted me to harpsichord music when I was a teenager. The early version found here, performed by Christophe Rousset, is dreamy and mesmerizing, and seems to end abruptly if you're used to the later version. I can't get enough. And then there's the prelude in c minor which follows it, and the transition couldn't be more jolting. This is harpsichord performance at its most expressive. A masterpiece.
Too bad some of Christophe Rousset's CDs are in the $40-$50 range.
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