Don Satz:

>Peter Horvath wrote:
>
>>I have a very difficult time understanding why she is considered to
>>be "the high priestess of Bach."  To me her playing is boring and
>>pedantic.
>
>I also have the Bach partitas discs in the Philips Great Pianists
>series, but I do not share Peter's opinion.  I found her interpretations
>insightful, tasteful, and a product of the times.  ...

Her use of dynamics is for me the highlight of these recordings.  She
attempts to do with dynamic inflections what pianists ordinarily try to do
with ornamentation in Bach, and it works for me (an understatement).  For
example, her repeats always have completely different dynamics, and they
are all tastefully judged and applied, so that the repeated section sounds
completely fresh right after the original.  I much prefer this to the
over-the-top ornamenting of other Bach pianists (eg Schiff).

Listen to her performance of the E minor partita, a major achievement IMO.
The opening toccata suffers a little bit from her obstinate refusal to
indulge in any rubato whatsoever, but the following fugue (the jewel of the
entire set, one of Bach's towering masterpieces) is perfection from start
to finish:  tempo is perfect, dynamics is perfect, phrasing and voicing are
perfect, and in the end the gates of heaven do open and eternal light
floods the living room...

Does it get better than this? I don't think so.

Ulvi
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