Bach: Six Partitas, BWV 825-830

This performance is spontaneous, joyous, cleanly articulated, but with enough ambient resonance to warm the tone. I don't think anyone records piano as well as ECM. And Andras Schiff--his first recording was so good it seemed redundant to record the partitas again, but I'm delighted he did. His phrasing highlights the structure of these works with a light touch, and he's found a rightness of tempo--especially as one movement relates to those before and after it. I tend to prefer historical instruments in baroque music, but Schiff succeeds in making the partitas utterly convincing on the piano. Too often, the ornaments that are tossed off effortlessly on a harpichord become feats of athleticism on the piano, but the trills, mordents and grace notes here succeed in embellishing the musical line without hi-jacking it.

The notes state that this is a live recording, but you would never know it. It's note-perfect and there's not a peep from the audience. It's like stumbling upon a splendid acoustic space where a master pianist is playing for no-one but himself.

i first want to echo the very positive sentiments of the other reviewers. the sound is extraordinarily good for a live recital, and emi has the uncanny engineering skill to mike an instrument at exactly the sweet spot where neither hall acoustics nor performance mechanisms (breathing, humming or instrument clatter) intrude on the music.

these live performances are vigorous, alert, sharply contrasted, and clearly voiced (there is no hint of pedal). schiff's arrangement of the partitas to form a complete program or "suite of suites" is welcome and convincing.

all that said, there is something about schiff's first traversal of the partitas, back in the 80's on london records, that is to me more unaffected, more alluring and, in effect, more humble. i do not really enjoy the aspect of modern pianism (native to the competitive, faddish and precarious environment of professional musicianship) which is expressed as a style of playing that amounts to "look at how i can play the hell out of this music!" there is a point where articulation, precision, contrast, ornamentation and clarity become ends in themselves, and to my ear there is plenty of that on display in this recital.

on repeated listening i wearied of the excessive use of a very crisp, somewhat loud, staccato or martello articulation (is this supposed to mimic a harpsichord?) in all except the slowest movements, a tendency to blur or ignore the tempo of ornamented textures or the concluding half of repeated sections (try tapping along the beat of the g major corrente or a minor gigue), schiff's odd use of breathing pauses and abrupt dynamic changes to break the flow of brisk movements, and a preference to give both or all voices in two or three part textures an equal dynamic weight but contrasting affect (legato over staccato, contrasting ornamentation, etc.) as a kind of audible finger juggling stunt.

bach is already complex and profound enough: that is the assumption on which all interpretations should be framed. no secret sauce is required or appreciated. bach, not the pianist's stylizations or the pianist's fingers, should always be the focus of attention. on that account, i prefer schiff's immaculate first recording, and rank this mature recital, splendid as it is, second to the simplicity and sincerity of his youthful account.

I have heard other eminent pianists play these famous keyboard works by Bach.
Some simply bored me stiff.
Andras Schiff's Partitas, however, virtually fly out from the keyboard. So rhythmic, so lively, so crystal clear, and accoustically so outstanding.
I've heard these works played (though not necessarily in full set) by many other Bach specialists. I don't think Andras Schiff counts himself as one such, but without a single doubt, his reprise on ECM on this set of Bach Partitas rightfully sets him up as one of the most eminent Bach specialists of all times. His is the right temperament, fully nuanced, brilliantly articulated, and with full alertness to style and content.
We do not need any 'period' instrument to high light the style in the case of such eminent interpretation. (I guess Schiff played them on a Borsendorfer).
Well, if Schiff had earlier releases of Bach, his recent reprises certainly call for full attention from the musical world - they are nothing less than greatness itself!