Bach, J S: French Suite No. 1 in D Minor, BWV812

“[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 ***

“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

“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 *****

“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

“Fray's debut is marked by an imaginative collation, Bach and Boulez, played with vibrant imagination. He pushes the boundaries but resists the merely quirky. Impeccable technique allows him to speak from the heart with deceptive ease.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008

“…Fray's gorgeous tone and ravishingly shaded trills cast an intimate, poetic spell that's hard to resist, especially within the French Suite's more modest dimensions. Fray matches Pierre-Laurent Aimard for character and precision in Boulez's Notations, yet goes his own way.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2007