Rating: 3/5
Review:
Not an interpretation for me
I'm afraid Martin Stadtfeld's English Suites didn’t do much
for me. He is plainly a very fine
pianist and some of the sound he produces is very beautiful, but it's not my
idea of Bach's music.
Stadtfeld has quite a free rhythmic approach to Bach, and
therein lies my problem with this disc.
The music does need phrasing and some rubato is important, but there is
an essential pulse to all of Bach's work which has to beat through it –
especially in suites of dances like these.
This means that although some individual phrases and even passages sound
very lovely, as a whole the pieces don’t really hang together for me.
I recognise that this is a personal view and that plenty of
people won't agree – and fair enough.
There are other very highly regarded recordings of Bach which I don't
like much – including some of Glenn Gould's interpretations. (There will now be a pause to allow the shock
of such sacrilege to wear off slightly.)
These things are a matter of taste, but my taste is much more for Angela
Hewitt, Murray Preahia, Richard Egarr and others and I'll be sticking to them.
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