Originally posted by
Jizzelbin
Well, I'm not sure about this bold claim, but I think that the WTC2 in the first brace of couplets (the C major and the C minor preludes and fugues) puts what Bach wrote for the WTC1 to shame.
No, I don't know how, and I've read the Cm at the keyboard before: the C major was a revelation, although I've read it before at the keyboard. It's not that these are tricky pieces: rather, I think they are better music than their analogs in the WTC1. And, yes, I know about the BWV 870a, which is cute and about whose correspondence to the C maj. prelude I shan't say any more. I believe it's a worthwhile birds-eye view of Bach's idea for the prelude.