Unlike, say, Chopin's piano pieces, J. S.

Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is not

a cycle written to exploit the capabilities of 'a' particular instrument.
Instead these pieces are a mind-bogging record of sheer human ingenuity:
Striking as they may be, individually, taken as a whole they embody an
unparalleled record of never-ending novelties... If not an even more striking
novelty than the one before it, at the very least every piece makes you
scratch your head as to how Bach could have yet come up with one more such
wondrous a curiosity--Not merely as in the complete conception of each piece
but also in the case of almost every musical phrase after musical phrase
throughout all the works in the assembly. And still there are pieces here
which are beatiful beyond telling.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Copyright (P) 1997-1999 Mr. S. D. Rodrian
Although any transcription of Bach's music is by definition in the Public
Domain, these 'interpretations' ARE copyrighted: This music may not be
reproduced by any means without the expressed written permission of S. D.
Rodrian... with the one exception that these Midi files (either in the ZIPped
"JSB_WTC.ZIP" file or individually) may be freely distributed through the WWW
as long as they are not modified in any way: You can always use Bach's notes,
of course, but NOT my 'performance' of them.
NOTE that these files have a 'clean' tempo map (so they can be played
extremely accurately by almost any midi player, regardless of its quality).
Therefore my 'performance' is embodied in the notes themselves.
J.S.Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book ONE: 24 Preludes & Fugues.
file ------------------- work
R-PF01.MID
R-PF02.MID
R-PF03.MID
R-PF04.MID
R-PF05.MID
R-PF06.MID
R-PF07.MID
R-PF08.MID
R-PF09.MID
R-PF10.MID
R-PF11.MID
R-PF12.MID
R-PF13.MID
R-PF14.MID
R-PF15.MID
R-PF16.MID
R-PF17.MID
R-PF18.MID
R-PF19.MID
R-PF20.MID
R-PF21.MID
R-PF22.MID
R-PF23.MID
R-PF24.MID

Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude

and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and

Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue

in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in

C BWV 846
cm BWV 847
C# BWV 848
c#m BWV 849
D BWV 850
dm BWV 851
Eb BWV 852
d#m BWV 853
E BWV 854
em BWV 855
F BWV 856
fm BWV 857
F# BWV 858
f#m BWV 859
G BWV 860
gm BWV 861
Ab BWV 862
g#m BWV 863
A BWV 864
am BWV 865
Bb BWV 866
bbm BWV 867
B BWV 868
bm BWV 869

J.S.Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book TWO: 24 Preludes & Fugues.

file ------------------- work
R-PFII01.MID Prelude and Fugue in C BWV 870

R-PFII02.MID
R-PFII03.MID
R-PFII04.MID
R-PFII05.MID
R-PFII06.MID
R-PFII07.MID
R-PFII08.MID
R-PFII09.MID
R-PFII10.MID
R-PFII11.MID
R-PFII12.MID
R-PFII13.MID
R-PFII14.MID
R-PFII15.MID
R-PFII16.MID
R-PFII17.MID
R-PFII18.MID
R-PFII19.MID
R-PFII20.MID
R-PFII21.MID
R-PFII22.MID
R-PFII23.MID
R-PFII24.MID

Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude
Prelude

and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and

Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue
Fugue

in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in
in

cm BWV 871
C# BWV 872
c#m BWV 873
D BWV 874
dm BWV 875
Eb BWV 876
d#m BWV 877
E BWV 878
em BWV 879
F BWV 880
fm BWV 881
F# BWV 882
f#m BWV 883
G BWV 884
gm BWV 885
Ab BWV 886
g#m BWV 887
A BWV 888
am BWV 889
Bb BWV 890
bbm BWV 891
B BWV 892
bm BWV 893

I am making these files available now (rather than later) because I have
reached a point of diminishing returns in their editing. That is,
theoretically the pieces can always come closer still to the way I think they
ought to be interpreted --but not by so much that it justifies my spending
all that much more effort on it. Although it was fun while it lasted, it's
time to work on something else now.
As a point of departure you must understand that I use the SoundBlaster AWE32
card (on a P.120 PC): This card comes with digitally sampled instruments. [I
use Master Tracks Pro.]
On other software (provided the hardware is capable of digitally-sampled
instruments), if you don't know how to avoid the FM banks of
computer-generated instruments try the Midi Mapper (which might have been
properly programmed with your card's wave table instruments).
These files are set to a minimum 'stereo' pan. The following set of
'controls' instructions are for the AWE32 card, but users of other cards may
deduce the effect I'm after from them...
for the CREATIVE MIXER: set the Treble, Bass, and MIDI Volumes to their
loudest possible settings. Then set MAIN VOLUME to play at your own paticular
comfort level. NOTE that the note 'velocities' in these files are set to the
loudest possible setting (whenever and wherever possible). Set all
right/left 'balances' as close as possible to the center.
for the AWE32 CONTROL PANEL: Use the Qsound (not Reverb and Chorus).
for the BOB (break-out box): Make sure all the controller 'boxes' (under the
M's) are unchecked... Save this setting to the default.bob file if need be:
When any box is 'checked' it interferes with the controller information sent
by the midi files for proper playback.
All

Copyright (P) 1997-99

Mr. S. D. Rodrian
626 Lalor Street
Trenton NJ 08611

SDRodrian@aol.com or SDR@t-three.com
You can visit me at http://www.geocities.com/Paris/LeftBank/3214