Ton Koopman is one of the leading conductors and performers of Bach's
music.  His Bach Cantata series on Erato has garnered continued
complimentary comments.  I have reviewed one of his Bach/harpsichord
discs, the Inventions/Sinfonias for Capriccio, which was a worthy effort.

Back in the early 1990's I acquired his Earto recordings of the entire WTC
on harpsichord; that was around the same time I also bought the van Asperen
and Glenn Wilson sets.  However it happened, I misplaced or sold or donated
the three sets.  I do remember that I was not high on harpsichord
recordings at that time in my life - what was I thinking?

Anyways, I saw Koopman's Book 1 in a local store's used bins and acquired
it promptly.  The presentation is excellent as the cover is attractive and
the liner notes have detailed comments on each prelude and fugue.  The
back of the booklet has a photograph of Koopman that I'm surprised he was
willing to have distributed.  His head looks like he either just got out of
bed or was pushed into a wind tunnel.  Never get photographed on a bad hair
day.

With grooming matters out of the way, let me tell you about his musical
performances:

Koopman plays in a crisp manner.  He's much more likely to shorten
note values than stretch them.  This tendency has much impact on the
performances; sometimes I very much enjoyed the shortened notes, and I
always found the performances interesting.

In a few of the pieces, Koopman creates rhythmic variations from the norm.
Again, the impact on the music is significant and interesting.

Koopman finds it hard to put on a happy/joyous face; that last ounce of
joy is usually missing when needed.  This is Koopman, and he has a similar
tendency in his Bach cantata series.  I suppose this is a criticism, but I
don't expect Koopman to give me the full supply of joy.  Yet, the Fugue in
F sharp major finds Koopman sloughing off his burdens and really getting
into a happy mode with his usual great urgency.

Magical or superlative performances are very infrequent in Koopman's set.
Although not one fugue or prelude is less than competitive and my interest
level is high, there aren't many that are highly memorable.  My favorite is
Koopman's reading of the Prelude in B flat major.  Although he doesn't play
it very fast, he sounds like he's being shot out of a cannon.  Maybe that's
how his hair got so messed up.  Anyways, this performance is of industrial
strength, and I won't be forgetting it.

The sound quality of the CD's is good.  It's quite stark and clean - very
crisp.  Sometimes, in the faster/stronger pieces, this crispness becomes
too much of a good thing.  So, it's not perfect sound, but it's nothing to
worry about either.

Just the other day I reviewed a Book 1 set by Christiane Jaccottet.  Rest
assured that Koopman's performances easily surpass those of Jaccottet.
He's a major league Bach performing artist and fully competitive with most
other Book I sets.

Don's Conclusions:  I'll give Koopman's Book 1 a moderate recommendation.
I don't think there's much in it to rival the best versions, but it is
more interesting than most and always rewarding.  I likely admire the set
more than I enjoy it.  That condition tells me that others of different
preferences could well consider Koopman's set outstanding.  The only
grouping I would advise to steer clear of the Koopman performances is the
one that places the highest priority on the full measure of joy in Bach's
music being conveyed.

Don Satz
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