This piece is taken from Book 2 of J.S. Bach's Forty-Eight Preludes and Fugues (also known as The Well-Tempered Clavier). A prelude could take almost any form, the only conditions being that it should be in the same key as the fugue and form a suitable preparation of the listener's ear and mind for what is to follow, although Bach's preludes were usually a clearly defined musical personality, of which the fugues were logical developments and projections. Prelude no XII is in F minor. Pieces in a minor key are often less cheerful and perhaps darker than those in a major key, and while this prelude is not at all gloomy or dismal, it is somehow quite reflective. The listener does not simply a receive a happy four-minute ditty that is forgotten the moment after the recording finishes (as could be said for some classical pieces that I have heard); it is much more thought-provoking than that.
             The prelude, and indeed the entire work from which it originates, was designed for a keyboard soloist and from the recording I can well imagine the soloist, even Bach himself playing with great feeling and emotion. This is typically what the audience likes to hear from solo performances, unlike huge orchestras where an individual's efforts can be drowned out by a mass of horns and strings. That is probably why the piece is best suited to the piano rather than any other instrument, such as a violin. Often when I hear violins I expect them to be part of a larger string section, or at least supported by a section. I imagine, perhaps somewhat ignorantly that violins are great for playing fast and furiously, or slowly and serenely, but not for the mid-tempo, middle ground. The piano, however, can achieve this. The performer is instructed to play this piece 'allegretto espressivo'. The listener wants to be able to envisage the pianist playing from the heart, and I think that this performer achieves that.
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