Bach on the piano

[aukhawk]

Greetings.  Just wondering if anyone's heard this?  Seems like an awful lot of marketing hype ("most significant Bach recording since Gould," etc.), curious if it's actually worth checking out...

I enjoyed it very much.  A welcome change from the usual turgid 'all the Toccatas', 'all the Suites', 'all the Goldberg Variations' collections.  But it's probably the sort of disc that is bound to disappoint if your expectations have been raised too high, by, for example, a string of glowing reviews.

I like everything he's done - it's not the only Bach he's recorded - there is a disc of Partitas 2 & 5, accompanied true to form, by the 24 Chopin Preludes.  And of course his collection of 10 of the Glass Etudes is a modern classic, even if he omitted a few of my favourites.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Greetings.  Just wondering if anyone's heard this?  Seems like an awful lot of marketing hype ("most significant Bach recording since Gould," etc.), curious if it's actually worth checking out...

Very good, indeed!

[Mandryka]

I like everything he's done -

Have you heard the two "Bach Reworks" recordings? I'm not actually sure what I'm hearing, I can't find any details online, whether they're his ideas or someone else's.

Here's a confession, I find it really difficult not to be cynical about such sweet music. I know that tame sweet music has its uses in therapy and in hairdressers' salons, but really, where's the insight and the humanity? I guess he'll make a bit of money from it, but I think it's a pile of rubbish, touted shamelessly by DG.

[milk]

Have you heard the two "Bach Reworks" recordings? I'm not actually sure what I'm hearing, I can't find any details online, whether they're his ideas or someone else's.

Here's a confession, I find it really difficult not to be cynical about such sweet music. I know that tame sweet music has its uses in therapy and in hairdressers' salons, but really, where's the insight and the humanity? I guess he'll make a bit of money from it, but I think it's a pile of rubbish, touted shamelessly by DG.

I was inspired to put it on today.
It's worth hearing but I don't find myself returning to it nor does it stick with me. I'll definitely listen to it again some day. But it's something to recommend to the people who complain Bach is stern, perhaps. The word anodyne comes to mind.

[milk]

Just on a lark tonight: Heinrich Neuhaus, to be found on youtube as well as the "Russian Piano School" series of I don't know what label - they also put out Feinberg's WTC - well this is very interesting playing - perhaps approaching Feinberg's level of astoundingly beautiful Bach - sensitive, perhaps romantic...
Anyone else know if there are any others to check out in this series?
 

[Jo498]

Revisiting some of my collection I listened to two and a half piano recordings of the partitas:

Craig Sheppard: Quite straightforward and overall very good without being very "personal"

Joao Carlos Martins: This is highly personalist, actually quite crazy at times, even more than I remembered but I loved most of it, e.g. his very slow outer movements of the e minor.

Anderszewski (6,3,1) I think I used to like this a lot but I found quite a bit of it fairly annoying this time. The toccata in 6 is way too fast for my taste (esp- the sections usually taken more slowly) and while I liked the 1st partita best some of it was rather mannered, e.g. a register chance in the menuet that made it sound like a musical clock. For some reason Martins quirkiness worked much better for me than Anderszewski's (who has considerably better sound, though).

(I have another two and half: Gould, Tipo and the ones Marcelle Meyer recorded, I think 1-3,6)

[Mandryka]

Anderszewski . . .  The toccata in 6 is way too fast . . .  the sections usually taken more slowly.

I wonder if that's true, I mean that f,e, the introduction in the toccata is usually taken more slowly than Anderszewski.

[Jo498]

Maybe I was not clear: Anderszewski plays the "introductory sections" very fast. maybe not compared to some harpsichordists but clearly compared to the 3 or so other piano versions I I listened to.  I don't much care for the tempo of the "flourishes" either way but then there is a more melodical section where I prefer a much broader tempo. The central fugal section is not especially fast but also faster than the overall very slowish Martins (who needs more than 10 min. for the whole thing).
Anderszewski is also blazing through the gigue of the B flat major partita but this might be more common. It's not mainly tempi that somewhat annoyed me but all kinds of mannerisms.

[milk]

I've been sampling Joao Carlos Martins, whom I'd never heard before. I'm really curious for reactions to this pianist's Bach. To me, so far, I don't think it's good. But it IS different. I really don't understand what this guy was up to.

[Mandryka]

I've been sampling Joao Carlos Martins, whom I'd never heard before. I'm really curious for reactions to this pianist's Bach. To me, so far, I don't think it's good. But it IS different. I really don't understand what this guy was up to.

It's worth contrasting him with Rubsam on modern piano, and Landowska too, see if you think one makes more sense to you than the other. David Cates is another one worth throwing into the mix.

[Jo498]

The Partitas are almost the only Martins I have heard (I also have a live recording with WTC I Preludes alternating with Chopins played by another pianist). He recorded the WTC in the sixties, maybe a few other pieces and then almost everything in the 1980s. I am not really sure in my opinion either, some of it seems just crazy and not quite successful (e.g. a breakneck praeambulum in #5, here he seems the opposite of Rübsam whereas in other pieces slow tempi and rubato might be common to both) but I love his slowish Toccata in the e minor. And overall I found the partita set interesting enough to keep.

[vers la flamme]

Any love for Igor Levit? I listened to his Bach/Brahms Chaconne for the left hand and thought it was amazing. I then sampled some of his Partita recordings and like what I heard. Kind of reminded me of Murray Perahia's Bach with maybe a bit more "bite".

What say you all? Is he a good younger Bach pianist, or is he a middling talent vastly overhyped by his label and publicists?

[milk]

I like Levit a lot. He takes a lot of movements slowly and I think delivers a sensitive and artistic performance but he's not gimmicky. The sound on that recording is really nice too. I haven't listened much to his Goldbergs.

[aukhawk]

Yes I prefer Bach on the piano and I like this Levit set of the Partitas.  As a set of 6 he has easily replaced Hewitt and Perahia as my go-to.  Normally though I would not listen to more than two Partitas at one sitting so I am quite receptive to part-sets.  Recently these have included Edna Stern (1,2, 6), Olafsson (5, 2) and - for that special occasion - Batagov (4, 6). 
Or a mixed recital such as one that I really enjoy from Maria Pires (Partita 1, English Suite 3, French Suite 2).

[Jo498]

Any love for Igor Levit? I listened to his Bach/Brahms Chaconne for the left hand and thought it was amazing. I then sampled some of his Partita recordings and like what I heard. Kind of reminded me of Murray Perahia's Bach with maybe a bit more "bite".

More "bite" than Perahia in Bach (or Mozart) is not a very high distinction... (Sorry, have not heard the Levit.)

[Mandryka]

In the booklet essay for Levitt's recording we are told that Bach

eventually abandoned his plans to include a seventh partita in the set 

Is that true?

[Mandryka]

The above mentioned essay seems to have been written by a journalist, but Levitt apparently asked for this quote from Schumann to be included 

The profoundly logical, poetic and humoristic element in more recent music has its origins for the most part in Bach: in terms of their music, Mendelssohn, [William Sterndale] Bennett, Chopin, Hiller and all the so-called Romantics (I invariably mean only the Germans) are far closer to Bach than to Mozart, just as they were all so profoundly familiar with Bach and just as I myself confess my sins to this loty figure every day, while seeking to purify and strengthen myself through him ... I'm convinced that Bach is unbeatable: he is incommensurable.

That's to say, Levitt wants to interpret the partitas in a way which reveals connections to c19 music for keyboard, Davidsbundlertanze and the Diabelli Variations are singled out for special mention.

What is this romantic connection? The essay is explicit, it is that the music is revealed to be full of

dark hints and striking gestures

Is Levitt successful? Does he hint at darkness? Does he make the musical gestures striking?  Not that I noticed but maybe I haven't listened carefully.

[prémont]

In the booklet essay for Levitt's recording we are told that Bach

Is that true?

I think I read somewhere, that the French ouverture in the embryonal phase was planned to be seventh partita. Considering the fact that Bach's sets always contain numbers divisible with 3 (the holy trinity), this may be the reason why he changed the plans.

[Mandryka]

. Considering the fact that Bach's sets always contain numbers divisible with 3 (the holy trinity), this may be the reason why he changed the plans.

Indeed!

[prémont]

That's to say, Levitt wants to interpret the partitas in a way which reveals connections to c19 music for keyboard, Davidsbundlertanze and the Diabelli Variations are singled out for special mention.

What is this romantic connection? The essay is explicit, it is that the music is revealed to be full of dark hints and striking gestures

The usual bunch of nonsense. Bach didn't know the Romantics, and to make retrospective connections to these in his music is just senseless.