David Ponsford, harpsichord by Andrew Garlick (1992) after Jean-Claude Goujon (1749)
Heritage HTGCD 147/48 (2CDs) [78:28; 77:15]
★★★★★

This project joins a long list of CDs of Bach’s Clavierübung partitas, published singly from 1726 onwards and as a set in 1731. Since David Ponsford recorded the tracks in 2000, several complete harpsichord recordings have been made, inter alia by Ton Koopman [Challenge Classics CC 72574, 2013], Rafael Puyana [Sanctus SCS027-29, recorded 1985, but released posthumously 2013], Richard Egarr [Harmonia mundi HMM90759394, 2017], and Mahan Esfahani [Hyperion CDA68311/2, 2021]. What does this sleeping beauty bring to the ball? Firstly, the late Peter Williams’s erudite liner notes, light in the wearing of his learning, that highlight the challenge of interpreting 40 movements in which Bach explored the full potential of partita form. Secondly, the interpretations themselves, which showcase the attributes Ponsford’s listeners will know well: well-researched, cleanly articulated, with unruffled tempi, agogic but incisive (as in the opening Sinfonia of BWV 826), and ornamented relatively sparingly. Thirdly, the recording and editing (by Paul Arden-Taylor) strikes a perfect balance between spaciousness and intimacy. Lovers of intuitive fireworks might prefer Esfahani, but Ponsford’s is playing of the highest integrity.