Pure DSD 256 – Analog Mixed

For Hungarian pianist László Borbély, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier is nothing less than a “musical breviary” — a lifelong companion he has returned to daily since his earliest studies. This live recording, made at ProVibe Park Studios on 20 December 2025 in the presence of 21 invited guests, captures Borbély’s long-awaited account of the first book’s 24 Preludes and Fugues on a Hamburg Steinway Model D. His stated aim is not simply to perform the work but to illuminate connections and passions that decades of devotion have revealed to him — bringing a personal, almost confessional depth to music that has occupied him since he was a beginner.

The recording is framed by an illuminating essay from musicologist Sándor Kovács tracing the history of temperament from ancient Mesopotamia and Pythagoras through to Bach’s own concept of “good tuning” — the compromise solution that made it possible to compose and play in all 24 keys without harsh dissonance, and which gave the collection its name. Recorded in DSD256 with a Merging Hapi A/D converter and a Studer 962 analog mixing console, the production has an unusually rich and transparent sonic character befitting the intimacy of the occasion.

László Borbély – piano