Join Bach-specialist Evan Shinners for a look at the up-beat and energetic Prelude in D Minor, BWV 875 – one of the more approachable works from Book Two of the Well-Tempered Clavier.

This Prelude exists in an earlier version, which Shinners plays through for comparison purposes. Knowing how Bach updated and improved the work can help shape your interpretation, as can understanding what D minor represented in Bach. Shinners offers historically-informed guidance on matters of tempo, ornamentation, and articulation, and demonstrates how to choreograph some of the trickier passagework on a modern piano. He ends with a walk-through of the work, breaking down the technical and musical challenges in each phrase.

Evan Shinners breaks down the sensuous and expressive D minor Fugue from Book II of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

This fugue features one of Bach's chromatic subjects, which sets the tone for the work and gives the opening its brooding, lamenting character. The work is filled with optimistic rays of light, however, and Shinners demonstrates Bach's melodic and contrapuntal inventiveness which lighten the mood. Managing multiple voices in your two hands can feel awkward and unnatural, and Shinners takes the opportunity to offer general advice on approaching polyphonic works – physically and interpretively. Finally, Shinners broaches a perennial controversy in Bach playing: to pedal, or not to pedal.