Your favorite performer of J.S.Bach keyboard works?

[dex68]

Just curious. I'm so stuck on Glenn Gould I have difficulty accepting any other approach. There are lots of players I enjoy tremendously on other material, but when they play Bach, I have to shut it off - too pianistic for me.

I'm not proud of this, so help me out.

[stonemonkts]

I love Gould too, but he is definitely not the beginning and end when it comes to Bach's keyboard stuff.

If we're sticking to non-organ keyboard works, originally written for the harpsichord, then I would also strongly recommend these artists:

Andras Schiff (piano)
Wanda Landowska (harpsichord)
Murray Perahia (piano)
Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord)
Ralph Kirkpatrick (harpsichord)

There are many others. All of the above offer distinctive readings worthy of any Bach enthusiast.

[hatta]

Ralph Kirkpatrick for sure, especially seek out his clavichord renditions of the Well tempered clavier. Wanda Landowski is absolutely essential in her bringing Bach back to the harpsichord but I think that her students (of which Kirkpatrick is one) in general take a less dry approach and were able to get more representative instruments. Speaking of which I much prefer my Bach on the correct instrumentation. People have done nice interpretations on piano but that just isn't what those pieces were composed for.

[walto]

I've got a couple versions of many of the famous works--including the organ stuff, which I don't think has been mentioned. The harpsichordist I think I like best is the guy who did the nonesuch version of the Brandenburgs on vinyl for Ristenpart . I never heard anybody play that fast. Sounded like Nancarrow. That recording is out of print. But I'll have to look up the guy's name. Probably got some other recordings....


See also this.

[Fred K]

Most of my Bach keyboard music is by Gould, Perahia, Schiff. I have Grigory Sokolov's Art of the fugue and I have 3 others in the Well-Tempered Clavier - Mieczyslaw Horszowski (Book I), Edwin Fischer (Book II), and Jeno Jando (Books I & II). The Jando CDs on Naxos are solid recordings of the WTC, but the Horszowski (on Vanguard) and Fischer (a re-release on Naxos) are great versions. Fischer is recogonized as a great Bach interpreter, but Horszowski's name doesn't usually come up. I'm still getting into Sokolov's ATF, but it's not one of my favorite Bach pieces. I want to try Rosalyn Tureck and Angela Hewitt but haven't gotten around to it.

I've never cared much for Bach on harpsichord. I tried a few versions several years ago, but didn't really enjoy listening to an hour or two of solo harpsichord straight through. There have been some well-reviewed re-releases over the last couple of years, so maybe I'll try again.

[steve(thelil)]

Walter / Wendy Carlos.

The best of both gonads.

[Salvador Dali Lama]

edwin fischer and glenn gould

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I love most of Gould's Bach.

E. Power Biggs is the most widely recorded of the organists, although with organ the distinctiveness is often as much with the instrument as with the player.

Originally Posted by stonemonkts

Wanda Landowska (harpsichord)
Murray Perahia (piano)
Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord)

Big seconds for these three. Leonhardt is not the virtuoso that the other two are, but he usually brings to the recording an ensemble of period instruments, and I like that sound very much.


Fred: Have you tried the concertos for three and four harpsichords? These are among my favorite pieces in the universe, Bach at his most thrilling and dizzying! The second disc in this 2 CD set contains the material I had on an old Nonesuch lp that I wore out. You've probably heard a couple of these arranged for three violins, three trumpets, etc. But the multiple harpsichords give the music a more staccato, almost percussive feel that I love. Some of them were originally written as harpsichord concertos, some (like the great C Major Concerto) were originally written for other instruments.

[dex68]

I actually wasn't thinking of organ, though I enjoy Bach's organ music, and to be quite honest, I can take about 10 minutes of harpsichord. No offence, purists!

But thanks for all the tips - I'll check out the ones I haven't already heard. As I said, somehow Bach is a special case. For example, I really dig Schiff on Mozart or Haydn - really almost anything I've heard him do - except his Bach. Some have trumpeted Jarrett's Bach, and it comes close, but it's still too... diffuse... I'm not sure how to put it. I love his Handel, though.

The thing about Gould is how he seems to get every note so clean and pure, even when he's playing legato runs, and he never touches the pedals. He's so goddam precise. I think somehow I have to get his sound completely out of my mind and just not compare everyone to him. Of course it would be stupid for everyone to play his way. Anyway, I'm working on it.

[Dr Dave]

I know this is a terribly unfashionable attitude, but I have grown to actively dislike Gould's renditions of Bach. He really was quite eccentric. I greatly prefer Andras Schiff. While she doesn't record a lot of it, Martha Argerich is also a wonderful interpreter of Bach. Try this one out, recently reissued:

[Bill Barton]

Anthony Newman

[saltwatersnow]

im in the all gould all the time for bach camp. nothing else sounds right. in fact i just got layed with goulds well tempered clavier book 1 low in the background. sweet. classy.

[gnhrtg]

Certainly among my favorites, and not yet mentioned, are:

Sviatoslav Richter - if only for his Well Tempered Clavier on RCA, beware of inconsistent sound, mostly sound level changing between pieces, throughout the set, though

Grigory Sokolov has been mentioned but still. The only Bach I have from him is a two disc set on Opus111/Naive of Art of Fugue and Partita no.2 but I certainly find them good enough - possibly even more but I got them only recently (were the only things of Sokolov's out and available that I missed so picked the set up after an amazing recital last month in Paris).

Then there's Evgeni Koroliov, whose Art of Fugue, of course, comes with Ligeti's recommendation (some blurb about how Ligeti said all the music he'd need on a desert island would be Art of Fugue as played by Koroliov). Anyway, I haven't heard that but his name should be mentioned here, just based on his Goldbergs, mid-price on two discs.

Murray Perahia, I do not like much, really, but I still keep his keyboard concertos.

I also much prefer hearing Bach's keyboard works on piano rather than on harpsichord. If you can take a little rhythmic idiosyncrasy, then I'd recommend Pierre Hantai (and his recent albums on Mirare are excellently recorded too, and if you're into Scarlatti look for his Scarlatti series, the third volume's just out, again on Mirare). There's another young French guy - Christophe Rousset, whose French Suites have gathered some high praise but I haven't heard them yet, anyone?

I very much like Gould's Bach.

[Paul B]

A hearty second to Dr. Dave re: the Argerhich record. It is superb.

The other great pianist of her generation, Maurizio Pollini, said in an interview (I don't recall where) that he hopes to record Bach someday. That should be marvelous.

Perahia's Goldberg is every bit as good as Gould's, and gets more play on my stereo these days. Schiff also has a nice touch with Bach.

[rollhead]

Murray Perahia

Gould plays Bach WAY too fast.

[Root Doctor]

Originally Posted by gnhrtg

There's another young French guy - Christophe Rousset, whose French Suites have gathered some high praise but I haven't heard them yet, anyone?

I recommend these recordings. They're quite good.

In addition to many of the names listed above, I enjoy the interpretations of Rosalyn Tureck and Maggie Cole.

[gnhrtg]

Originally Posted by Root Doctor

I recommend these recordings. They're quite good.

In addition to many of the names listed above, I enjoy the interpretations of Rosalyn Tureck and Maggie Cole.

Thanks Root. I'll be getting them soon.

[graypencil]

Another Gould vote here ( especially the French Suites )

..but I also like Schiff a lot as well.

[letchhausen]

Originally Posted by hatta

Ralph Kirkpatrick for sure, especially seek out his clavichord renditions of the Well tempered clavier. Wanda Landowski is absolutely essential in her bringing Bach back to the harpsichord but I think that her students (of which Kirkpatrick is one) in general take a less dry approach and were able to get more representative instruments. Speaking of which I much prefer my Bach on the correct instrumentation. People have done nice interpretations on piano but that just isn't what those pieces were composed for.

I like Gould the best, Roslyn Tureck and Pierre Hantai as well as many of the others listed here. From what I understand, Bach was interested in the development of the keyboard instrument, worked with Silbermann on his pianoforte design and did play the clavichord. Since the piano was still being developed in his time it is most likely that situation that led to his music being composed for the prevalent harpsichord. I believe that the Well-Tempered Klavier was written for clavichord for the first 24 and harpsichord for the second 24 so that makes things more convoluted.

From the interweb by Bach's first biographer - Johann Nikolaus Forkel:

"[Bach] liked best to play upon the clavichord: the harpsichord, though certainly susceptible of a very great variety of expression, had not enough soul for him; and the piano in his lifetime was too much in its infancy and still much too coarse to satisfy him. He therefore considered the clavichord the best instrument for study, and in general, for private musical entertainment. He found it the most convenient for the expression of his most refined thoughts, and did not believe it possible to produce from any harpsichord or pianoforte such a variety in the gradations of tones as on this instrument, which is, indeed, poor in tone, but on a small scale extremely flexible."

So I guess if you wanna get purist, Ralph Kirkpatrick's clavichord recordings are the way to go as you suggested. I personally think Bach heard things in his head that transcended mere instrumentation and his interest in other keyboard instruments as they developed pointed to this, so I think the piano is fine.

[Xavier]

I like Peter Serkin's and Richard Goode's recordings, in addition to Gould's.

[Rob Damen]

Angie, baby!

Or, rather, Angela Hewitt on Hyperion.



And I'm also partial to ...



A little love for Bach's ladies!

Cheers,

Rob

[LeMo]

Originally Posted by gnhrtg

I'd recommend Pierre Hantai (and his recent albums on Mirare are excellently recorded too, and if you're into Scarlatti look for his Scarlatti series, the third volume's just out, again on Mirare).

I second both recommendations.

[LeMo]

Originally Posted by gnhrtg

I very much like Gould's Bach.

Same here.

On Clavecin, with Pierre Hantaï, I like Leonard and another French interpreter, Blandine Verlet (check her "Goldberg Variations" on Astrée-Auvidis).

[RedJazz]

Wanda Landowska