Johann Sebastian Bach - English Suites Nos. 2, 4 & 5 (Murray Perahia)

Information

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

1. (01-07) English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807
2. (08-14) English Suite No. 4 in G major, BWV 809
3. (15-21) English Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 801

Murray Perahia, piano
Date: 1998
Label: Sony Classical

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Review

GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE

Emanating from much of this disc is the happy impression that Murray Perahia is thoroughly enjoying what he is playing – nowhere more evidently than when, after an A minor Gigue (with its appropriate repeats) given an irresistible forward drive, he romps straight through it again, apparently out of sheer exuberance (oddly enough, Schiff did the same). Elsewhere too, quick movements are immensely engaging – transparent and unaffected courantes, buoyant gigues full of verve, the bourrees delightfully crisp and light, the passepieds utterly enchanting (especially in the major-key one). With strong rhythmicality, varied articulation, the neatest of ornaments and intelligent distribution of interest among inner parts, such performances give great pleasure. And a highly embellished double of the Sarabande in Suite No. 4, on the lines of that in Suite No. 2, is so convincingly stylish that I began to wonder whether some new research had discovered that it had been written by Bach himself.

However, in places Perahia’s purely pianistic instincts lead him astray. Affettuoso treatment of the F major and E minor Allemandes lend an anachronistically romantic gloss to the music, and the expressive A minor and F major Sarabandes find him sounding self-conscious, trying too hard and losing momentum: it is noticeable that there is greater continuity in the E minor Sarabande, which is simpler in texture. And was it necessary in the preludes – vigorously springy as they are, and the fugal one in E minor cleanly handled – to exaggerate the fencing-off of episodes? Some of us are quite capable of appreciating the structure without this.

-- Lionel Salter, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/s/sny60277a.php
http://www.allmusic.com/album/bach-english-suites-nos-2-4-5-mw0000394576
http://www.amazon.com/Bach-English-Suites-Nos-Perahia/dp/B00000HXL7

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Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from Italy and France. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach

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Murray Perahia (born April 19, 1947 in New York) is an American concert pianist and conductor. Perahia studied with Mieczysław Horszowski at Mannes College, and also attended Marlboro Music School, where he studied with musicians Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider, and Pablo Casals, among others.. Besides his solo career, he is active in chamber music and appeared regularly with the Guarneri and Budapest String Quartets. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with which he records and performs. He is loved for his warm, gentle, smooth and lyrical qualities of playing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Perahia

http://murrayperahia.com/

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