Reviews  |  Instrumental

 
 

 
 

 
 

JS Bach

French Suite No 6, BWV817. Fughetta, BWV961. Fugues - BWV952; BWV953. Partita No 2, BWV826. Preludes and Fughettas - BWV899; BWV900. Preludes and Fugues - BWV895; BWV902a. Prelude, BWV999. Nine Preludes (Pieces from Clavier­Büchlein for WF Bach) - Praeambulum, BWV924; Prelude, BWV925; Prelude, BWV926; Praeambulum, BWV927; Prelude, BWV928; Praeambulum, BWV930; Prelude, BWV931. Six Little Preludes, BWV933-38. Five Preludes, BWV939-43. Two-Pan Inventions, BWV772-86. Three-Part Inventions, 'Sinfonias', BWV787-801

Andrea Bacchetti pf

Dynamic CDS629-1/2 (150' • DDD)

 
A considered Bach recital that sometimes scales the heights

 

 
 

Judging from past releases and the present double-CD set, Andrea Bacchetti concocted a Bach style based upon deliberate and drawn-out tempi, rounded vocally oriented phrasing, and a way of

 
 

insidiously shifting legato and detached articulation that manages to make everything sound connected, if sometimes by a thread (the E flat Sinfonia and B flat Invention, for example). He loves to apply gradual diminuendos at cadence points, much as a seasoned, even­tempered driver approaches stop lights. Long trills boast considerable polish and sheen, along with ornaments that hover around the grey area between imaginative and quirky (the D minor and F major Inventions). He delineates the E major Sinfonia in muted half-tints, yet with more artful pedalling than in Till Fellner's recent, relatively blurry interpretation (ECM, 9/09). At worst Bacchetti can be over-emphatic and ponderous like a Rosalyn Tureck wannabe (the B major Invention, the B minor Sinfonia, the E major French Suite's Gigue), or, in the C minor Partita's Rondeau and Capriccio, bogged down by self-concious, flow-impeding agogic stresses. However, throughout the little Preludes and Fugues, Bacchetti allows his luminous sonority to soar without pressure or fuss. Listen to him work his tonal magic in the A minor Prelude, BWV931: the music takes less than a minute, yet the pianist says it all.  Jed Distler