April 17, 2008
Craig Sheppard to perform Book II of ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ April 23
Renowned faculty pianist Craig Sheppard will perform Book II of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier in concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, in Meany Theater.
Sheppard, the Donald E. Petersen Endowed Professor of Piano, described the music as “a feast for the intellect and the spirit, manifesting origins of classical sonata form and embodying some of Bach’s greatest and most interesting fugal writing.”
According to Sheppard, the second book of The Well Tempered Clavier was a protracted labor of love, including reworked compositions from Bach’s early years in Weimar (1709-1717) up to his more mature works of the middle 1730s in Leipzig.
Sheppard came to the UW School of Music in 1993. In May 2004, he completed a seven-concert series devoted to a chronological traversal of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. Titled Beethoven: A Journey, the cycle is available in a nine-CD boxed set through Sheppard’s Web site, www.craigsheppard.net, as well as from Romeo Records (www.romeorecords.com) and major record stores.
More recently, his recordings of Bach’s Six Keyboard Partitas, the Inventions and Sinfonias (Aufrichtige Anleitung), and Book I of The Well Tempered Clavier, all recorded live in Meany Theater, have been released on Romeo Records. The Beethoven cycle and all three Bach discs have met with unanimous praise in local, national, and international publications, including Gramophone, International Piano, International Record Review and Fanfare.
Tickets for the April 23 concert are $15 ($10 for students and seniors). They are available at the door or online at www.meany.org.
