Johann Sebastian Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier I (Mahan Esfahani)

Information

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

• The Well-Tempered Clavier I, Preludes & Fugues BWV 846–869

Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord

Date: 2025

Label: Hyperion

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Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani continues his Bach series for Hyperion with the Well-Tempered Clavier, one of Western music’s great landmarks. Having lived with the work for much of his life, he approaches it now with decades of performance and scholarship, describing the return as both “a challenge and a homecoming.” Esfahani treats the 48 preludes and fugues as finely crafted theatre, each inhabiting its own dramatic world. Performing on a modern copy of an early 18th-century two-manual harpsichord, he uses tuning that gives distinct color to each key, highlighting that “well-tempered” refers not to equal temperament, but to adaptable just tuning.

Since his 2009 London debut, Tehran-born harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani (b. 1984) has become a leading international figure, acclaimed for repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary. The first harpsichordist to be a BBC New Generation Artist, he has also won the Borletti-Buitoni Prize and numerous recording awards. He has performed concertos worldwide with major orchestras and conductors, collaborated in chamber music with renowned soloists, and championed new works by leading contemporary composers. His discography on Hyperion and Deutsche Grammophon has earned top honors. Also active as broadcaster and writer, Esfahani studied at Stanford and with Zuzana Růžičková. He now resides in Prague.