Bach: Complete Keyboard Works, Volume 13

Advantages: Elegant, refreshingly stimulating, articulate Goldberg Variations.
Disadvantages: (For US residents) Import CD from British Hyperion label costs more than the average.

...the way to the final bar of Variation 13, while Perahia’s tends toward a rather dreary sameness throughout. When Hewitt returns with the thematic passage it is in hushed tones, giving it a slightly different hue from its first appearance. Similarly, she renders a more nuanced, less uniform and dull description of Variation 20 with mere changes in volume. Hewitt's Goldberg Variations are some of the most stimulating I have yet encountered--an impressive achievement given the strong competition out there, and the inherently mathematically rigid structure of Bach's work. It is a piece that relies heavily on the interpreter to bring forth its beauty. Without this sensitivity in the pianist, a soporific and mechanical rendering results. Although Bach had only the harpsichord and no concert grand to play or compose on during his lifetime (he may... Read review

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Advantages: Brilliant, stirring, excitingly unpredictable, fresh performance; "genius" is not hyperbole in Argerich's case.
Disadvantages: Reflecting its LP origins, the CD lasts only 50' 16"!

...statement to the next, even within the very same phrase. You can’t help but give up and surrender completely to the emotional pull and richness of the music. Her control of the keyboard is amazing. Following the emphatic introductory chords in the Grave.Adagio of the Partita’s Sinfonia, listen as Martha drops the volume precipitously, beginning the Andante in a whisper, her notes now light and perfectly balanced. The Sinfonia (Partita) and the Allemandes (Partita and English Suite) mesmerize in they way they gently wash over you like liquid waves. In contrast, she attacks the English Suite Bourées with a relish and vitality that’s positively infectious. She commands your full attention from the first note to the last. She keeps things from growing monotonous and dull, something which can befall Bach’s works in lesser hands, given the somewhat... Read review

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

...was nothing like the valved species familiar to us today. The antique version must have been hell to play, since it depended solely on lip control to create any melodic variation, especially in the upper register. All of which is totally irrelevant to Alison Balsom, who uses the modern valved trumpet (piccolo and C types) to play these works of Baroque magnificence. (Do I hear lamentation from the period instrument purists? Oh, pshaw.) The pieces on this album were arranged and transcribed, or co-arranged and co-transcribed by Ms Balsom herself from works for the keyboard, cello, oboe, flute, voice, etc. Transcription seems to come easily to her: so natural do the works of Bach sound on the trumpet, you’d think they were written especially for it. The trumpet repertoire is rather thin on the classical side of things, and surely, Bach... Read review

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