I have been steadily listening to András Schiff’s The Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1 and 2) for almost ten years with no indication in my soul and mind that I will soon tire of the recording. If anyone knows of a better interpretation of Bach’s famous fugues and preludes, please give me the name. But I just can’t imagine how any pianist could improve on Schiff’s mastery not only of the pieces but the instrument itself. He makes Glenn Gould’s version of Book 1 sound barbaric and blockish. Indeed, those who lack the education (bildung) to appreciate the difference between something that is civilized and something that is primitive, the difference between something that is the product of specialized culture and something that is the product of common culture (and such distinctions do exist in the world made up by man), will find Schiff to be instructive. His art is the avatar of what it is to be civilized—being, at once, human (deeply intelligent) and divine (celestially graceful).