Bach: Prelude in C major, BWV 846 -- John Moraitis, spinet.

Bach: Prelude in C major, BWV 846 -- John Moraitis, spinet.
Spinet: Neupert "Zenti" (Bamberg, 2008). Temperament: meantone. A=415 Hz.

This is by no means a polished performance. I have not really played this piece for a couple of decades, and I was slowly remembering the chord progressions as I was going along. The reason I recorded it was because I was curious to hear how it would sound in meantone temperament. The result is fascinating: the chords belonging to C major have a wonderful purity and calmness to them, while the tonicizations of other tonal areas become significant events with a restless, spicy quality—a couple of chords are clearly overspiced, and that explains the occasional grimacing of the performer :) Of course the piece was not meant to be played in meantone, but in many respects the flavor meantone adds is quite agreeable.