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All right, this is obviously a touchy topic for some pianists, but I'd like to hear everyone's opinions. What do you think of pedaling in a Bach piece? Do you like/hate it, and why? Do you actually do any pedaling when you play Bach, or are you an advocate of the NO PEDAL!! school?

On a related issue, what about over-legato? Any guilty confessors? XD

Haha, yeah, I've heard stories about all staccato playing for Bach too. On the other hand, I've also heard the over-Romanticized version as well (too much pedal).

So do you use any pedal when you play Bach? Or do you not explore his keyboard works at all since you have more of a preference for Romantic music?

I'm not sure I understand what you said. sweatdrop

What do you mean by echo sounds? And how do they press more than one key to make that echo sound? I do play harpsichord, but I have no idea what you're talking about. ^^;

Oh, definitely, heavy pedal in Bach is no good. Too much pedal and you'd be wandering into an over-romanticized rendering if Bach's pieces...and generally, pedaling should be discreet so we won't be ruining the countrapuntal texture.

So when is an appropriate time to add pedaling, according to you?

I'm working on Bach's Italian Concerto right now, and I find myself not using any pedal at all in the first and third movements, but I do add a little pedal to increase resonance in the slower movement. I actually find it much easier *not* to add any pedal because blurring harmonies are not characteristic of the style at all...but I want the ring, damnit! XD

It's great fun to play! There's so much energy in the outer movements, and the inner movement is absolutely lovely (although it's the one that drove me nuts). I'm sure you'll work your way up to it soon enough.

I actually don't object to using pedal even in contrapuntal pieces, but it must be very discreet and kept under careful monitoring. One thing I've always been weary of regarding playing Bach on the piano is that it can come out extremely dry. Harpsichords, despite having no pedal, have much better resonance even after the fingers have left the keys, and I really miss it when Baroque pieces are played on the piano without thinking of this issue. (Which of course makes me hate all staccato playing, by default.)

As for your last point, I definitely concur, but still one must be very careful not to blend melodic notes too.

You know, my teacher would always talk to me about this. For a really long time is was like totally taboo to ever pedal a Bach (or any other Baroque piece for that matter) piece. But then there was this one female pianist who made a recording where she actually used pedal, and everyone was like " surprised that's amazing," and so it kind of slipped into standard practice to start using pedal.

But I think for educational purposes, when you're learning about the different eras and whatnot, it's more important to be taught NOT to use the pedals, so that you learn the RIGHT thing first, and THEN you can branch off and make your own choices on how to apply pedaling. It's not necessarily that Bach didn't WANT pedal, but rather that he never had the option, so you really can't say that he'd be pissed off if he heard you playing it with pedal. He'd just sorta be like "O.o what the eff? YOU CAN DO THAT NOW?"

Again, I agree that overpedaling, or even pedaling in a mildly complex passage, can cause it to get super murky and nasty, but then again, there are some places where adding the pedal can do a lot. I don't know, I'm personally a pedal whore, and I love to push the thing down any chance I get. But what pushing the pedal down really can do is allow the other strings to resonate with the sympathetic vibrations resonating from the keys you've already hit...so like, sometimes when there's a harmonic buildup, or like a dramatic arpeggiated chord, it might be nice to hold the pedal down after that to allow it to ring throughout...like the Prelude 2 from WTC I (I think >_> The c minor one with the famous fugue) has this one part after the mini-fugue-esque part of the prelude where there's this arpeggiated chord followed by a running melodic line, and then another chord, another line, and then it goes into the ending. I like to put the pedal down for that chord. It makes it resonate really nicely...but like, the rest of that song would be totally butchered if you put the pedal down.

Still, I tend to toy around with on and off pedaling throughout just for shits, because it IS fun to experiment =]

I feel like my WTC book had a little blurb about a bunch of different performers' interpretations of the articulation of the second fugue from book I, and some of them did perform the whole thing staccato, and I don't think it sounds that bad at all. Really, I think it depends on the nature of the piece itself. Though you really probably should try and stay away from the pedal as much as you can...

Most of the time I can't use pedal for Bach just because it's so easy for me to overdo it. But if I do want more of a legato feel and as you mentioned, that ring to it, I'll half-pedal. I just have to make sure to lift it up almost as soon as I put it down to makes it the sound doesn't get murky.