Sunday, 9 April 2017

Bach - The Partitas - Egarr


Rating: 5/5

Review :
An excellent recording



This is another excellent recording from Richard Egarr, who is now well established as one of the world's leading harpsichord players.

Bach's keyboard Partitas contain some truly wonderful, inventive writing.  In his extremely detailed notes, Egarr dissects the pieces and shows the extraordinary patterns and symbolism contained within them.  Whether or not you accept all of the numerology, it makes fascinating reading and illuminates this extraordinary music which, whatever complex architecture may underpin it, sounds completely natural when played and is a delight to listen to.

Egarr plays it beautifully.  He catches the essential pulse of Bach, dances where he ought to and gives us real clarity of individual lines while blending the whole into a lovely, balanced overall sound.  I already have very, very fine recordings of these works by Angela Hewitt and Murray Perahia on the piano and by Trevor Pinnock and Christophe Rousset on the harpsichord, but I am very glad to have this, too and I expect it to become just as well-loved.

The recording is very good, capturing the rich sound of Egarr's harpsichord very well, and the presentation is attractive.  This is an excellent set all round, and I can recommend it very warmly.

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