Murray Perahia Plays Bach

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
After playing and conducting Bach's concertos for solo keyboard, Perahia now turns his attention to a pair of similarly scored concertos which involve a couple of excellent colleagues. Except for instrument purists who insist on harpsichords and other period instruments, no Bach lover is likely to have any trouble with the sound of these performances. They are lucidly and expressively played, and every important line is clearly audible. After his rather aggessive approach to the solo concertos, Perahia and his colleagues sound surprisingly sedate in these performances, which are lovely but occasionally seem a bit deficient in excitement and drive. The "Italian Concerto," without the orchestra, is similarly mellow. If it suits your interests, this is a highly pleasing disc, quite well recorded, although there should have been more than 55:24 of music on it. --Leslie Gerber

Tracks:

I. Allegro
II. Adagio Ma Non Tanto E Dolce
III. Tempo Di Alla Breve
I. Allegro
II. Affetuoso
III. Allegro
I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Presto

Amazon.com

After playing and conducting Bach's concertos for solo keyboard, Perahia now turns his attention to a pair of similarly scored concertos which involve a couple of excellent colleagues. Except for instrument purists who insist on harpsichords and other period instruments, no Bach lover is likely to have any trouble with the sound of these performances. They are lucidly and expressively played, and every important line is clearly audible. After his rather aggessive approach to the solo concertos, Perahia and his colleagues sound surprisingly sedate in these performances, which are lovely but occasionally seem a bit deficient in excitement and drive. The "Italian Concerto," without the orchestra, is similarly mellow. If it suits your interests, this is a highly pleasing disc, quite well recorded, although there should have been more than 55:24 of music on it. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Just about as good as it gets..........2005-07-19

Exquisite. Just forget academic hang-ups about period versus modern instruments etc - and listen to the music - and the sheer musicianship - which is sublime on this disc. Bach often arranged for different instruments quite freely, like most good composers, so he would most-likely have thoroughly enjoyed his work played on a piano instead of a harpsichord - and it is such enjoyment to let this music wash-over you wherever you are - driving, relaxing, whatever.

Perahia is at his usual level of perfection, energy and enthusiasm, and for me, the smooth and subtle playing of Kenneth Sillito's violin - and especially Jaime Martin's flute - is the real bonus - beautifully and sensitively crafted phrasing throughout both the Brandenburg 5th and the Concerto for flute, violin and clavier.

Beautiful if nonstandard rendition of Bach.......2003-12-13

The centerpiece of this CD is Perahia's performance of the Fifth Brandenburg. Perahia bites into it like what it is--the first piano concerto. True, he doesn't play it on a harpsichord and disregards almost everything the past 20 years or so of musical scholarship have told us about period performance. On the other hand, Beethoven, Chopin, and the rest of the 19th century composers played Bach with their own hands, and they probably played him like this. The result wasn't the exact sound Bach had in mind when he put pen to paper, but it was the sound that inspired the great keyboard literature of that century. To listen to Perahia play this is to hear the granddaddy of piano concertos anew. Anyone who loves Bach already has a couple Brandenburg recordings; this is a nice compliment to them. Anyone who loves 19th century piano music deserves a taste of this, too. Then Perahia throws in the triple concerto, which just doesn't get recorded enough, and the Italian concerto, which any Bach lover is going to already know well. Sound quality and engineering are impeccable.

A dazzling performance........2003-11-10

Bravissimo! Perahia's dazzling performance culminates in the cadenza in the first movement of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. This superb recording stands in stark contrast with the boring antiquarian stuff of the "historically informed" performance fad that may have prevented an entire generation of music fans from enjoying an important pianistic tradition connected with this concerto. I do not know of any recording of this concerto played on a modern piano since the legendary mono recording by Edwin Fischer made in the 1950s. The Triple Concerto and the Italian Concerto also give splendid testimony of exquisitely shaded modern piano performances. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Murray Perahia Plays Bach [SACD]

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B0000CG89Z
Release Date: 2003-10-07

Average customer rating:

Murray Perahia Plays Bach (Box Set)

Manufacturer: Sbme Import
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00006SMBQ
Release Date: 2002-11-11

Tracks:

English Suite No.1 In A Major, Bwv 806
English Suite No.3 In G Minor, Bwv 808
English Suite No.6 In D Minor, Bwv 811
English Suite No.2 In A Minor, Bwv 807
English Suite No.4 In F Major, Bwv 809
English Suite No.5 In E Minor, Bwv 810
Goldberg Variations, Bwv 988
Piano Concerto No.1 In D Minor, Bwv 1052
Piano Concerto No.2 In E Major, Bwv 1053
Piano Concerto No.4 In A Major, Bwv 1055
Piano Concerto No.3 In D Major, Bwv 1054
Piano Concerto No.5 In F Minor, Bwv 1056
Piano Concerto No.6 In F Major, Bwv 1057
Piano Concerto No.7 In G Minor, Bwv 1058

Average customer rating:

A great boxed set!!!

Murray Perahia Plays Bach (Box Set)

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00007945X
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Customer Reviews:

A great boxed set!!!.......2003-02-16

This set of 5 CDs of Perahia performing works by Bach is a must for any barroque music lover! Every single CD on this set is indeed a great example of Perahia's talent and of his precise and sensitive approach to Bach's music! His interpretation of the Goldberg variations has been highly rated (even higher than the famous Gould versions) by the Gramophone, and the two CDs with the transcriptions for piano of the beautiful keyboard concertos are quite stunning and highly rated too! Buy it now!!!

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