Bach: Partitas Nos. 1, 3, 6 (2002)

There are musicians who devote their lives to Bach, and who can blame them? The emotional heights, the intellectual depths, lofty spirituality, and diabolical virtuosity of Bach's music could easily make it enough for any musician. While Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski can play other music and play it with the same combination of brilliance and profundity as he does Bach -- witness his magisterial recording of Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations" -- it's easy to assume that Bach would be enough for him. In this superlative ... Read More

There are musicians who devote their lives to Bach, and who can blame them? The emotional heights, the intellectual depths, lofty spirituality, and diabolical virtuosity of Bach's music could easily make it enough for any musician. While Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski can play other music and play it with the same combination of brilliance and profundity as he does Bach -- witness his magisterial recording of Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations" -- it's easy to assume that Bach would be enough for him. In this superlative recording of Bach's Partitas Nos. 1, 3, and 6, BWV 825, 827, and 830, Anderszewski delivers as great a Bach keyboard recording as has been made in the past 20 years. Listen to the ferocious intensity of his Gigue from the Partita in E minor, the cool serenity of his Sarabande from his Partita in B flat, or the bitter "Burlesca" from the Partita in A minor: Anderszewski is in complete control of every element of the music without even slightly inhibiting his expressivity. And in... Read Less