Bach: Compact Companion

Advantages: Great piano playing of a great Bach composition.
Disadvantages: None

...One of Gould's final recordings, this is probably the definitive piano version of Bach's keyboard masterpiece. Gould runs the theme & thirty variations as a unified whole. His playing is characterised by clear fast passages, crisp ornaments and controlled, intense playing of the slow variations (nos.15 & 26). Even his humming along to the music does not detract from a joyous performance. The final section from variation 27 to the slow return to the theme is pianism at its most uplifting. The piano sound is clear without being dry & compares favourably with most up to date piano recordings. This is a disc to convert anyone to Bach & indeed to Gould's pianistic genius.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent composer
Disadvantages: non

...I sallute to Bach. Bach can be very romantic, calm or even agitated (sometimes agressive) in his compositions. I like most of his composition especially his piano work. In his fourty eight Preludes and Fugues, if you played them all, you can experience a mixture of emotions that he has implanted in this particular set of work. I like to play Bach's Preludes and Fugues when I feel very down, very angry even when I am very happy. I will definitely find a piece that suit my emotion and mood, and feel much more better after playing them. Some of my... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Wonderful transcriptions of JS Bach's majestic music; sensitive, tender, vivacious, effortless and fluid playing.
Disadvantages: Nil.

...Her latest CD from EMI Classics, ‘Bach/Works for Trumpet’, already tops zerbine28's list for Classical CD of the Year. (I know, I know, it's only April as I post this, but that's how strongly I feel about this recording.) Readers, if you please, do welcome young British trumpet player Alison Balsom, who now joins the ranks of Mssrs Miles Davis and Herb Alpert in my teeny-tiny list of favourite trumpeters. No, I never heard of her, either, before yesterday, when I first sampled her CD at the local Borders book and music shop. Released just this past January, the CD is an absolute stunner. The title is a little misleading, because Johann Sebastian Bach never wrote pieces specifically for the instrument (discounting the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, of course). Besides which, the ‘trumpet’ in Bach’s time... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful