Prelude & Fugue No. 24 in B Minor

Bach did not choose to end the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier with a bang. The Prelude could not be more serene, and sounds like a transcription of a trio sonata for a pair of violins (in the right hand) underpinned by a slow walking bass for the cello (left hand). It’s the only prelude in Book I cast in binary form—that is, with a midway point at which the player goes back to repeat the first half, and later, the second. The Fugue is long and demanding, with a desolate theme whose sighs (phrased into pairs by Bach) cover all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. There are times when Bach’s biting dissonances sound like wrong notes, but in between these long stretches of harmonic and fugal complexity he provides a little light relief with the tenderest of linking episodes. The final set of fugal entries are unpredictable in their timing but perfectly calculated for their last-minute drama and ringing finality.