Bach on the piano

[San Antone]

Bach : Partitas
Anton Batagov

I like this.

Was it milk that said he did not like this Batagov?  Conversely, I am enjoying it, and wish he would record more Bach.   

[milk]

Have you heard Sokolov?

https://www.youtube.com/v/2krTDn6MSWY

yes, you pointed me to this a while back and I ended up grabbing a bunch of other Sokolov too. It's pretty amazing stuff. Too bad he doesn't really record. I have to listen again today but it seemed to me that Sokolov is on a weird plane of his own.
I think he does Frescobaldi Byrd and Buxtehude too?

Was it milk that said he did not like this Batagov?  Conversely, I am enjoying it, and wish he would record more Bach.   

Should I try this again? At the time I listened, it just offended my ears but maybe another try will change things. 

[milk]

Have you heard Sokolov?

https://www.youtube.com/v/2krTDn6MSWY

His recorded Bach doesn't light me up like this live baroque.

[Mandryka]

His recorded Bach doesn't light me up like this live baroque.

In his are of fugue, the way he makes the piano play counterpoint is something which impressed me! There's a lot which is debatable about the performances, for example for me the way he uses loud and soft doesn't really enhance the music.  But I think from the point of view of counterpoint, he has shown that it can be done on such an instrument.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Absolutely 10/10.
Just stay clear of him crossing over to the Dark Side 


Bach Reworks (Part 2) : Víkingur Ólafsson

I've heard about that. Now I perversely must inquire.

Bach : Partitas
Anton Batagov

I like this.

That's a good one, indeed! Whacky, but splendid. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2018/03/21/classical-cd-of-the-week-anton-batagovs-bach-is-for-tripping/ (The only review I wrote that Philip Glass was ever complimentary about. )

[Mandryka]

(The only review I wrote that Philip Glass was ever complimentary about. )

The reference to Einstein on the Beach made me think of something, a cluster of ideas I want to propose possibly to be refuted.

One thing that is striking about Glass's music from that time is that it is totally superficial - what I mean is that it's all about surface sound, where you have many instruments playing they all play at the same volume, and in a way which means they never collide, they always produce simple harmonies. There's no sense of mystery, of poetry concealed in deep levels of the music - it's all in ya face.

Now Batagov's Bach is like this, that's what happens when you slow it down and when you align the voices like he does. The most you can say for it is that Batagov's Bach was a composer who liked playing two tunes at the same time and he knew how to do that and make it sound slick.

He's taken the counterpoint out of the greatest contrupuntalust ever.

It is true that you could imagine a vocalise and melody instrument performance like Batagov's toccata from Partita 6, the vocalise being made of solfège. 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3.

[Mandryka]

Listening to the 4th and 5th suite here for the first time in years, what I'm struck by is the beautiful and imaginative ornamentation.

[San Antone]

Listening to the 4th and 5th suite here for the first time in years, what I'm struck by is the beautiful and imaginative ornamentation.

Yes, I like Koroliov's Bach quite a lot.  I have also been listening to Vladimir Feltsman, and while his treatment of this music is very different from Koroliov's, his Bach recordings are also enjoyable but for entirely different reasons.

Vladimir Feltsman : The Bach Collection

[San Antone]

Cédric Pescia has recorded three of the major keyboard works by Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, The Goldberg Variations, and Art of Fugue.



I just discovered them, and am finding them very good.

[milk]

Rambling about WTC tonight:
Ivo Janssen: I like the way this is recorded. It favors the left hand and low end. It's in his playing too: stressing voices. He's in the camp of using rubato liberally. I like the realistic raw sound of his piano. This with his separation of voices gives him melancholy and drama without sentimentality. We were talking about hammerless in the Debussy forum and that pops into my when comparing Janssen to Fellner. Fellner is much more rhythmically strict or pulse driven and I would think of him as hammerless, if that's what it is. It does make Fellner sound more dreamy and impressionistic but not as attentive to counterpoint. It's beautiful but not as satisfying. Pescia is a bit like Fellner as well. So is Poblocka.
There's so much more variety and drama in Janssen, IMO.
I'm more and more interested in the different ways to play this music on the piano. Tonight I'm comparing. It's always jarring and fun to listen to Rosalyn Tureck from time to time. Does she get a bad rap around here? What a unique artist she was. And while she doesn't seem to play around with rubato that much, she's also not dreamy or slick or glib. She has so much affinity with the music.
I don't know what to make a Schiff tonight. He's meticulous. Really meticulous. Everything seems very even. Is it his attack? He has so much control. Too much?
Someone I'd like to discuss more: Pienaar. He's interesting: exciting, flamboyant at times but, as in his b-flat minor fugue in Bk 1, sometimes devastating.

[vers la flamme]

This is an absolutely killer CD. The Bach is just as good as the Boulez and vice versa. I have Mandryka to thank for putting me onto it, and it's my turn now to recommend it to you all. Get it while it's cheap. I'll be seeking out more of Fray's recordings, he's a natural Bachian pianist I think. Kind of a legato heavy interpretation, not for everyone maybe.

--

For the second part of my post, I have a question for you all. The Partitas, I do not have a complete set. I have heard great things about the recent Angela Hewitt, has anyone heard it? I did not much like her earlier Bach recordings, but she's a little older now and probably does not play quite the same as she used to. My other contenders are Igor Levit and András Schiff (ECM).

[JBS]

This is an absolutely killer CD. The Bach is just as good as the Boulez and vice versa. I have Mandryka to thank for putting me onto it, and it's my turn now to recommend it to you all. Get it while it's cheap. I'll be seeking out more of Fray's recordings, he's a natural Bachian pianist I think. Kind of a legato heavy interpretation, not for everyone maybe.

--

For the second part of my post, I have a question for you all. The Partitas, I do not have a complete set. I have heard great things about the recent Angela Hewitt, has anyone heard it? I did not much like her earlier Bach recordings, but she's a little older now and probably does not play quite the same as she used to. My other contenders are Igor Levit and András Schiff (ECM).

I vote for Schiff. I don't think Hewitt's second recording is substantially different from her previous one. Have not heard the Levit, however.

If you are interested in a radically non HIP, hyper romantic approach, get Vladimir Ashkenazy.

[Mandryka]

This is an absolutely killer CD. The Bach is just as good as the Boulez and vice versa. I have Mandryka to thank for putting me onto it, and it's my turn now to recommend it to you all. Get it while it's cheap. I'll be seeking out more of Fray's recordings, he's a natural Bachian pianist I think. Kind of a legato heavy interpretation, not for everyone maybe.

--

For the second part of my post, I have a question for you all. The Partitas, I do not have a complete set. I have heard great things about the recent Angela Hewitt, has anyone heard it? I did not much like her earlier Bach recordings, but she's a little older now and probably does not play quite the same as she used to. My other contenders are Igor Levit and András Schiff (ECM).

I assume you've seen this



Give me some time to see whether I can think of anyone who plays the music in a way which resembles Fray, given that you've responded so positively to what he does. Tatiana Nikolayeva may be an idea to explore.

[vers la flamme]

I assume you've seen this



Give me some time to see whether I can think of anyone who plays the music in a way which resembles Fray, given that you've responded so positively to what he does. Tatiana Nikolayeva may be an idea to explore.

I did see that. I might like to get it as well. I ordered another CD of Fray and friends playing the Bach concerti for multiple keyboards with the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. I'm looking forward to a very French, very un-HIP recording of these concerti, most of which are unfamiliar to me.

Nikolayeva, I've heard good things about her Art of Fugue, but also bad things about her latter-day recordings in general. I'll have to check it out. Otherwise, let me know if you think of anything.

[Mandryka]

Otherwise, let me know if you think of anything.

Got there. This -- Virgininia Black.

[Mandryka]

I'm looking forward to a very French, very un-HIP recording of these concerti, most of which are unfamiliar to me.

Then get this

[Jo498]

I have not heard Schiff, Fray or Hewitt but for the partitas on piano my favorites are Gould for his uniqueness (that works better here than in many other recordings of this pianist), Tipo for romantic un-Hipness and probably Sheppard for an overall very good straightforward no-nonsense approach.

[Florestan]

If you are interested in a radically non HIP, hyper romantic approach, get Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Never heard Ashkenazy but Maria Tipo fits that description to a tee.



Sometimes I felt like I was listening to Schumann. 

[aukhawk]

For the second part of my post, I have a question for you all. The Partitas, I do not have a complete set. I have heard great things about the recent Angela Hewitt, has anyone heard it? I did not much like her earlier Bach recordings, but she's a little older now and probably does not play quite the same as she used to. My other contenders are Igor Levit and András Schiff (ECM).

Hewitt's playing hasn't changed much.  She says as much herself, in the booklet for her newer Partitas recording.  She plays a different piano - a Fazioli as opposed to a Steinway - in a different venue (though both central European) - but substantially the same production team.

As an alternative I do like the Levit set - but I haven't really listened to many others.

[Florestan]

Has anyone heard this?