Bach Piano Works

Perahia’s Bach registers as forthright where needed and quietly (and distinctively) supportive when other players take a lead

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach

Genre:

Chamber

Label: Sony Classical

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 55

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: SK87326

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Concerto for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Jaime Martin, Flute
Jakob Lindberg, Theorbo
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Kenneth Sillito, Violin
Murray Perahia, Piano
(6) Brandenburg Concertos, Movement: No. 5 in D, BWV1050 (hpd, vn, fl & stgs: 1720-21) Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Jaime Martin, Flute
Jakob Lindberg, Theorbo
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Kenneth Sillito, Violin
Murray Perahia, Piano
Concerto in the Italian style, 'Italian Concerto' Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Murray Perahia, Piano
The spirit of Prades and Marlboro is here revisited, with Murray Perahia first among equals and the whole production infused with a sense of spontaneous musical interplay. To take just one telling example, go to 3'42" into the first movement of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, where Perahia cues a breathtaking diminuendo then boldly builds towards the recapitulated opening theme. The sense of engagement is infectious. Then there’s the cadenza, subtly reminiscent of Alfred Cortot in its bell-like voicing, elegance and, just prior to the orchestra’s return, cumulative excitement.

There are, in a sense, two Perahias at work here: the first a non-percussive front-man whose evenly deployed runs are a joy, unlike some who more approximate a hard stick being drawn past iron railings. And then there’s the keyboard poet within the orchestra, who even when playing mezzoforte or piano manages to project a full tone (witness his presence in the tutti after Brandenburg No 5’s cadenza). The presence of a theorbo helps flavour the two concerto slow movements, the Triple Concerto especially where the impression of ‘leaning together’ is very pronounced. Superb solo playing, too, flautist Jaime Martin producing a memorably plangent tone.

As on previous Perahia Bach concerto recordings, the overriding impression is of intelligence, sensitivity and drama tempered by humility – Bach’s and Perahia’s. The Italian Concerto begs the by-now familiar question as to how one pair of hands can command so many simultaneous dynamic grades without sounding strained or self-conscious. The outer movements are colourful but never prettified, the principal melody of the central Andante like a memory of classic bel canto. And yet Perahia’s Bach has plenty going on: you attend to one layer of counterpoint, then return for another and so on, discovering something new each time. Even when judged in relation to other top-ranking piano recordings of Bach (among the most recent, Goode, Hewitt, Schiff and Anderszewski) this CD strikes me as exceptional. The recorded sound is full and forward.

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