First, the rivals listed above. Felix Ayo, one-time leader of I Musici, has recorded Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Philips on only two discs. To make this possible, he cuts most of the repeats, and purists will certainly regret this in some cases, perhaps in all. But you do in a sense get all the music for less money, and Ayo's tone is beautifully clean and clear.
Ricci's tone is much less even, the occasional roughnesses being excused by the words on the Unicorn-Kanchana box, ''Each movement an unedited performance''. Such performances do occasionally have a sort of inspiration, but I do not find enough of it here to justify a gimmick very few soloists would care to risk. In enjoyed Ricci's discs but found them a little disappointing.
Oscar Shumsky's tone is beautiful, his intonation faultless. He surmounts the huge difficulties in the most masterly way, yet there is tension where tension is required, for instance in the fugue in the A minor Sonata which he takes a little faster than Ricci, generating more excitement. On the other hand the Andante is pleasurably relaxed. He drives the finale along with energy, as he does all the finales and indeed all the fugues, though his approach to some movements is inclined to be a little too aggressive, for instance in the Gavotte en Rondeau in the E major Partita, and even in the Sarabande of the D minor Sonata, though the quiet end here is effective. Shumsky does in fact make more contrast than Ricci between Bach's loud and soft markings. His rubato is consistently musical in several of the first movements and notably in the famous D minor Chaconne, which receives an outstanding performance. In the Gigue immediately before it Bach slurs the occasional quavers in threes, but Shumsky slurs only the first two notes in each case. Similrly, in the E major Partita he plays a number of the slurred quavers in the first minuet staccato. In both movements Ayo shows that Bach's markings need no adjustment, and he attacks the vigorous movements less relentlessly. Both players are marvellous in the E major Loure, Shumsky playing it softly and Ayo very softly indeed. I prefer Ayo here, as also in the rather unresponsive start to the C major Sonata, but Shumsky is more impressive in the colossal fugue which comes next, as indeed he is in all the fugues.
Ayo has in general a cooler approach than Shumsky to these sonatas and partitas, and much cooler than Ricci, and some will find this more in keeping with the period of the music. But Shumsky's version is very fine indeed, and consistently grips your attention. The recording quality is superb, slightly better than it is on the Ayo discs and much better than on Ricci's, which are a little too resonant. Also Shumsky does play all those repeats. Strongly recommended.'