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This recording by the leading baroque music director and keyboard specialist Ton Koopman is devoted to the Six Partitas for Harpsichord, BWV 825-830, by J.S. Bach. Koopman is recognised throughout the world as an expert in the interpretation of Bach’s music. As a harpsichord player and director of the group he founded, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Ton Koopman has been a regular guest at leading concert halls in Vienna, London, Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Rome, Salzburg, Tokyo and Osaka. Between 1994 and 2004 he conducted and recorded all the existing cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, and this series received many international awards, among them the BBC Music Magazine Award in 2008. Ton Koopman is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts in the performance of music of the baroque period and particularly that of J.S. Bach. In August last year He released a recording with Catherine Manson of Bach’s six sonatas for harpsichord and violin BWV1014-1019 (CC72560), and in recent times has released critically acclaimed recordings of the harpsichord works of Dieterich Buxtehude as part of a cycle of his complete works. “Big effects are a hallmark of Koopman's style. The playing throughout these suites is consistently extrovert and red-blooded, with frequent changes of registration...There's rarely a sense of hesitation in Koopman's paying, even when a certain tentativeness is called for...The upside to all of this is dramatic interest and clarity.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013 |
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| |  | JS Bach: Piano Works
David Fray, described as “perhaps the most inspired, certainly the most original Bach-player of his generation,” launched his Virgin Classics career with Bach and this is his third album to feature the composer’s keyboard music. “We shouldn’t be afraid of acknowledging the expressiveness of Bach’s music,” says Fray. “The Romantics don’t have a monopoly on expressivity!” With this recital, David Fray returns to Bach, who featured on his first Virgin Classics release some five years ago, when the Partita No 4 and one of the French suites were programmed in illuminating (and prizewinning) fashion with pieces by Pierre Boulez. The recital was followed by a recording devoted entirely to Bach: keyboard concertos with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. “We shouldn’t be afraid of acknowledging the expressiveness of Bach’s music,” Fray has said. “The Romantics don’t have a monopoly on expressivity!” The German news magazine Spiegel, observing that “he discovers more psychological depth, more well-rounded stories and more refined emotions than his colleagues,” described Fray as “perhaps the most inspired, certainly the most original Bach-player of his generation”. “It’s much more interesting to study Bach’s approach to the orchestra in the Magnificat or the Christmas Oratorio than to read books on how to play Bach on the piano,” continues Fray, “I try to make music like a conductor, not just as a pianist ... The piano constitutes a way of getting nearer the heart of the music. How do you balance the voices? How do you find a progression in a movement? How do you put the polyphony in place?” Gramophone has spoken of Fray’s “unselfregarding mastery and musical maturity,” and the “intimate, poetic spell” cast by his Bach with its “gorgeous tone and ravishingly shaded trills,” while The New York Times has praised his “articulate touch, splendid command of shadings and nimble finger work,” describing how “he brings a fluid sense of rhythm and much sparkle to Bach's D major Partita.” In his native France, Pianiste magazine has written of “a great limpidity in his piano sound ... both seraphic and intense, with tightly controlled sonorities ... David Fray delivers a penetrating vision of these works [the Bach concertos]... Beneath his fingers they become magisterial to a degree we had forgotten.” Le Monde de la musique, also discussing the Bach concerto album, declared that: “The interpretation is always generous, enthusiastic and rich in contrasts. The fast movements appeal with their healthy energy, exuberant humour in their finales and lyricism throughout. No moments of tension stiffen the pianist’s phrases and he gives free rein to the sound.” Le Figaro, meanwhile, highlighted “an incredible flexibility in the way he engages with the score. If you want Bach that is airy, imbued with an expressivity that the authenticists are not always in a position to supply, then this disc is for you ... David Fray’s fluidity is worthy of his idol, Wilhelm Kempff ... His playing is ruled by a dancing, questioning spirit.” “You can tell right from the opening notes of the "Partita No 2" that, as with Gould, every single keystroke has been painstakingly analysed, weighed and considered before Fray executes it – though judging by the sweep and flow of these performances, it's unlikely they were subject to the kind of finicky editing favoured by Gould.” The Independent, 12th January 2013 **** “Fray's touch is exactly nuanced, its technical control aristocratically poised, produces sonorities of irresistably pellucid light and shade. And his rhythmic vitality is acute.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 **** “His C minor Partita (No. 2) stands out for its diversified articulations and sensitive melodic pointing...Fray also digs deepest in the E minor Partita's Sarabande, spinning out the long lines as if they were a vocal aria in one of the Passions...Fray is at his consistent best in his forward-moving, assiduously unified and gorgeously controlled C minor Toccata.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013 “those who love a bit of Bach on the piano will almost certainly enjoy what they hear...The occasional extra-musical blemish aside, this recording has to be given a firm recommendation, especially if you like your Bach rich and creamy, and nicely balanced with a bit of spice, but not too much.” MusicWeb International, 26th April 2013 |
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| |  | Sokolov plays Bach
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| |  | JS Bach: French Suites
“[Bacchetti] has still, so far as I can discover, to make his UK debut, which seems strange, given his outstanding gifts...Bacchetti decorates the melodies from the word go. Given that everything is repeated, one might expect that he would play them unvarnished first time through...He plays with immense rhythmic vitality, not often quietly, sometimes extremely loudly...Still, these are invigorating discs.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 *** “You don’t have the feeling of the music dragging, as Bacchetti keeps up the rhythmic energy and an uplifting sense of the music always being expressed and enhanced rather than rendered and overcooked...Bacchetti’s Bach recordings are almost invariably something rather special, and this set of The French Suites is a recording to keep alongside the best...this is the kind of refreshingly honest Bach which can refresh the soul and enhance your day no end.” MusicWeb International, September 2012 “his ornaments are quite idiomatic and tasteful...The sound of the Fazioli concert grand used in the present release might well appeal to quite a few listeners, but rather less so to others...Bacchetti’s Bach playing possesses a high degree of an indefinable but recognizable quality: musical good will.” International Record Review, October 2012 “Another first-class CD of 18th-century keyboard music from this Italian musician, placing him on the top level of contemporary pianists who essay baroque music on modern instruments. Bacchetti's part-playing is immaculate and his tempos first-rate. Recording quality is equally first-class.” Musical Opinion, November/December 2012 ***** “Bacchetti takes an unashamedly pianistic approach to Bach - and there's nothing wrong with that. Thus he's not afraid to add ornamentation, often to fine effect...He's gives the Allemande of No. 2 time to sound, while in that of No. 4 there's a pleasing smoothness of line.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Simone Dinnerstein: Something Almost Being SaidMusic of Bach and Schubert
Simone Dinnerstein (piano) After the success of Simone Dinnerstein’s first album for Sony Classical, “Bach – A strange beauty”, which immediately earned the No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Classical Chart, and is one of the few classical albums to make the US Billboard Top 200, Simone’s second Sony album is again devoted to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This time the pianist juxtaposes music by J.S Bach with that of Franz Schubert. Simone Dinnerstein believes the music of Bach and Schubert shares a certain distinctive quality; “their non-vocal music has a powerful narrative, a vocal element… Bach and Schubert’s melodic lines are so fluent, so expressive, and so minutely inflected that they sound as though they might at any moment burst suddenly into speech. They sound like something almost being said.” Inspired by lines from Philip Larkin’s poem “The Trees”, Simone Dinnerstein brings her own unique voice to Bach’s first two Partitas and Schubert’s Four Impromptus Op.90, revealing the inherent vocal qualities in these instrumental works. The decision to place the Schubert Four Impromptus inbetween Bach’s Partitas only serves to emphasize the similarities between the works which were written over 100 years apart. “tasteful almost to a fault, with its suggestive programme of Bach and Schubert, plus a title derived from Philip Larkin’s poem The Trees. What magic she weaves from the dancing counterpoint in her Bach partitas (nos 1 and 2), the notes sometimes reduced to two single lines. Bliss!” The Times, 17th February 2012 **** “The coupling is apt, as is Dinnerstein's linking of the narrative, vocal quality in both the Schubert Impromptus and the Bach Partitas – the Schubert almost a singing symphony in its wonderful four linked movements, while the Bach's dance movements sound as if they could be cantata arias. What is less impressive here is the actual piano-playing – perfectly tasteful but really a bit stolid” The Observer, 4th March 2012 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | JS Bach: Keyboard Partitas Nos. 2, 5 & 6(and bonus Paraty sampler CD)
Bach, J S: | Italian Concerto, BWV971 (1st Movement) Bruno Procopio (harpsichord) Viola da Gamba Sonata No. 1 in G major, BWV1027 Emmanuelle Guigues (viola da gamba), Bruno Procopio (harpsichord) Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV826 Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV829 Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV830 Bruno Procopio (harpsichord) | Couperin, F: | Suite 2, for viola da gamba & continuo (Pièces de viole) Emmanuelle Guigues (viola da gamba), Bruno Procopio (harpsichord) Pieces de Clavecin: selection Bruno Procopio (harpsichord) | Portugal: | Matinos do Natal Ensemble Turicum, Luiz Alves da Silva and Mathias Weibel |
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Since Vladimir Ashkenazy’s debut with Decca in 1963, with more than 200 albums as pianist or conductor, he has never recorded the Six Partitas. The ‘master musician’ (Sydney Morning Herald) infuses a lifetime of pianistic and philosophical discernment into the Six Partitas of Bach. This album will become an obligatory purchase for Bach and Ashkenazy fans: a summit-meeting of masters. “Bach's impervious logicality here applied to such frothy material as the opening "Praeambulum" to the Partita No 5 in G major, and its later "Passepied" and "Gigue", where the balance of formality and courtly danceability is held in perfect equilibrium by Ashkenazy.” The Independent, 2nd July 2010 **** “...he plays them with uncomplicated joy, content to let Bach’s poetry and intellectual fibre speak for themselves. Articulation is crisp without ever being mannered, and the speedy dance numbers really dance. Stately preludes stand proud and tall...while the sarabandes shimmer with beauty.” The Times, 17th July 2010 **** “Bach's music seems to have lit a youthful spark under Vladimir Ashkenazy's 70-something fingers, and in fact there's nothing remotely arthritic about these joyful, invigorating and technically impressive Partita interpretations...Ashkenazy's innate musicality, impeccable taste and obvious love for these works permeate every bar.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2010 “His playing is intense, focused, almost austere....Ashkenazy refuses to seduce us with tonal opulence on this engrossing recording, yet that itself is a kind of seduction.” The Telegraph, 6th August 2010 **** “Ashkenazy's dexterity is breathtaking. The bounding left hand of self-fulfilling sequences of the Capriccio and the breathless Gigue (No. 2) are thrilling...At the other extreme, Ashkenazy is intensely sensitive...A fascinating opportunity for direct access to Bach, with minimal obstruction from his interpreter,” BBC Music Magazine, September 2010 **** “The thrill of fresh discovery runs through this set, with some exciting movements – like the last of Partita No 2 – dashed off with effortless virtuosity, while the sarabandes are very intense and sustained.” The Observer, 15th August 2010 “Ashkenazy's new recording stands high among recent versions of the Partitas on the modern piano” International Record Review, October 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Piotr Anderszewski at Carnegie HallRecording Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall, New York City, 3.XII.2008
Since his first release for Virgin Classics, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations in 2000, Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski’s has produced a catalogue which ranges from Bach and Mozart, through more Beethoven to Chopin, Szymanowski and Webern, and which includes several prizewinning recordings. Both intellectual and inspirational, Anderszewski has said of musical interpretation: “One can speculate endlessly about the right ingredients, the perfect combination but the essential question remains unanswerable, lying far beyond the limits of the cleverest and most refined argument. And yet one goes on searching and, while realising that the search is about everything, the essence may yet reveal itself in the most unexpected way.” This new release captures live performances by Anderszewski at a very recent recital – December 2008 – in New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall. The critic of the New York Times made clear that this was an exceptional musical experience. After a performance so intense and draining, the notion of encores almost seemed superfluous. But Bartók’s Three Hungarian Folksongs from the Csik District had a welcome earthiness” Anderszewski repeated the programme in Chicago shortly afterwards, and the response of the Chicago Sun Times was at a similar level of enthusiasm: “There is something deeply comforting about the kind of perfection that Polish-Hungarian pianist Piotr Anderszewski brought to his program of Bach, Janácek and Beethoven … Perfection is a relative term when it comes to art, of course. There are myriad but equally valid ways to play a Bach partita or Beethoven sonata … Different artists plumb different facets in a piece of music, and listeners can only benefit from hearing what each one has managed to unearth. But during the two hours or so that they are onstage, artists like Anderszewski manage to create a universe that seems utterly complete unto itself. There is a sense of inevitability in their performance, a feeling that the true essence of a composer's intentions has been discovered. Especially when our daily lives are battered by forces beyond our control, it is reassuring to spend an afternoon in a world of such richly calibrated balance.“ “It can be hard not to wax hyperbolic when confronted with the pianist Piotr Anderszewski’s sensitive touch and potent imagination.” New York Times “Piotr Anderszewski employs a small but incisive tone in the Bach Sinfonia, as though he is taking us into his confidence; the Allemande is sweet and unassuming, the Courante has warmth, the Sarabande has rapt expressiveness. As the Partita progresses, the playing becomes more exuberant: the Caprice is pure tumbling energy.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2009 **** “So acute is the positioning of the microphones that the force of his playing here and in the mighty fugal statements of the finale makes an emphatic, physical impact. But Anderszewski’s command of perspective is paramount. The soft playing is mesmerising, the scope of his interpretation geared to probing deep into the music’s inner expressive tissues.” The Telegraph, 28th May 2009 ***** “This is playing of exceptional insight and finesse, which few other pianists today could match.” The Guardian, 29th May 2009 ***** “. In Bach's Partita No 2 in C minor, he plays with warm expression, using all the possibilities of a concert grand, yet miraculously avoiding anachronism. His late Beethoven, Sonata No 31 in A flat, Op 110, has earthy tenderness, opening at a steady tempo which prepares beautifully for the serenity and majesty to come. Schumann's "Faschingsschwank", Janacek and Bartok complete this captivating recital.” The Observer, 24th May 2009 “This is an outstanding release that ought to give anyone an appetite for next month’s recital.” The Telegraph, 21st May 2009 ***** “Janácek's In the Mists is a given a peach of a performance, a sense of improvisation sitting securely at its heart. Anderszewski's mastery of simultaneously varied dynamics comes into play here… this is an exceptional recital, and as ever the Carnegie Hall acoustic allows for a luminous piano tone.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009 “Some recital, this. Piotr Anderszewski establishes a commanding tone for the opening section of the Second Partita's Ouverture, hopping elegantly through the little march that leads on to a fast, immaculately voiced fugue. He uses the Courante's ornaments to 'lift' the melody line, and the play between a seamless legato and a gentle staccato accompaniment in the following Sarabande works wonderfully well. The Rondeau is again trippingly elegant, the closing Capriccio assertive in a way that balances it with the opening fugue.
Faschingsschwank aus Wien launches with a flourish: Anderszewski fractionally delays the opening's second chord in authentic Viennese style, while the Scherzo is full of telling though effective emphases, mostly along the lines of 'question and answer'. And yet in the ravishing Intermezzo he seems too aware of the notes (so many to negotiate). The finale works best, a fantastical sojourn dazzlingly negotiated.
Janácek's In the Mists is a given a peach of a performance, a sense of improvisation sitting securely at its heart. Each movement tells its own very personal story, or seems to, the third alternating idyll with searing drama. Anderszewski's mastery of simultaneously varied dynamics comes into play here but in Beethoven's Op 110 he can be just a little over-emphatic on detail – in particular the accompaniment that underpins the first movement's principal theme.
Throughout the recital the understandably enthusiastic Carnegie Hall audience is rather too keen to bound in at the end of each piece, a mild distraction on a recording that you hope to play again and again. This is an exceptional recital, and as ever the Carnegie Hall acoustic allows for a luminous piano tone.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Bach: Partitas Nos. 2, 3 & 4
“These three Bach partitas present Perahia at his most civilised. Awesome clarity in the fingerwork, yet nothing freezing into a mannerism: that’s the special hallmark of No 2. No 4 brings architectural grandeur, and a marvellously trilling courante. No 3’s sarabande twiddles its thumbs – the only spot where Perahia’s refinement outdistances feeling. Glenn Gould’s performance offers strutting quirks, but Perahia takes us close to heaven.” The Times, 18th April 2008 **** “[Perahia's] studies at the harpsichord have encouraged a lightness of touch in his piano playing here, even in the more solid movements such as the Second Partita's opening Sinfonia, where clarity and litheness seem more important to him than over-pedalled severity. The dances are enjoyed for their contrapuntal play as much as for their rhythmic course, and Perahia's ornamentation is judicious; only an occasionally over-emphasised sectional approach to structure mars the flow.” The Telegraph, 12th April 2008 “In Murray Perahia's hands Bach's Partitas not only work well on the modern concert grand but also sound completely at home. The pianist's vibrant and variegated sonority perpetually sings, while his contrapuntal acumen leaves no detail unconsidered nor unduly fussed over.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008 “Perahia's articulation cuts through the most intricate paragraphs and yet there's a searching spirituality, too…” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008 ***** “truly outstanding … Perahia plays with perfect poise, clarity and intelligence, always mindful of the partitas’ perfect structure … it’s a joy from start to finish” The Observer “Bach keyboard playing doesn't come any finer than this. A set of true distinction, most truthfully recorded.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition  BBC Music Magazine
Instrumental Choice - June 2008 |
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Gramophone Magazine
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2009