Bach, J.S.: Well-Tempered Clavier I Fugue XXIV in B Minor, BWV 869
This is the final fugue of Book I and, fittingly, the final piece in this project. At the time, Bach likely didn't have any intention of writing a Book II and wrote this fugue as a final work, a summation of all the preludes and fugues that preceded it. Its subject is 24 eighth note pulses long--the number of prelude/fugue pairs in the book--and contains all 12 tones of the scale, making it the world's first 12-tone composition, and predating Schoenberg's system by 200 years. In terms of chromaticism, dissonance, drama, and form, Bach pushed the contemporary limits of composition to the very utmost and beyond with this epic fugue.
Five years, six months, and 24 days ago, I sat down on a sweaty September afternoon and recorded the Ab Major prelude from Book I with a crappy digital recorder my partner didn't use anymore. I left the windows open and banged it out in competition with street noise, the odd siren, and cicadas buzzing at the height of summer. At the time I had played piano only occasionally since high school and hadn't truly practiced anything for nearly 16 years. I didn't sound so great that day, but it felt good. A few months later, I did another recording, and then another, and then sometime in 2009 decided to do it as a project, "both books in no particular order, for no particular reason." That last bit isn't entirely true, I just didn't know the reasons at the time.
Call me trite, but the end of any big, multi-year project is bittersweet, and this one was the most satisfying of my life. It's hard to know what to do next, but I'm certain my landlady, neighbors, and especially my long-suffering partner, are overjoyed. (Matt and I still wonder if the incessant practicing was one of the reasons our previous neighbors moved out last year. Bless them, they never said a word.) For those of you who have been following for all these years, thank you for your support, words of encouragement, and indeed the occasional criticisms. Knowing that even just a few people are paying attention can be incredibly motivating.