I need opinions on Bach's "Six Partitas for Keyboard".  It's a very
vast work and I need some guidelines.  Having listened to sinfonies and
preludes, I must admit that shorter pieces do have a stronger emotional
charge (meaning that the shorter a piece is, the less room a composer has
to express his emotions and the denser those emotions are).  As Bach avoids
repetitions, often it's easy to lose the thread of a long partita, your
ear fails to get "foothold".  How did you like the partitas compared to
sinfonies and preludes? And, of course, the partitas I'm trying to listen
to are performed by Gould.

A point on authenticity.  Have you ever enjoyed Bach's pieces played on
the cembalo? What do you think about them? I've come to the conclusion
that possible lack of good technique (few play the cembalo these days)
and technical imperfections of the instrument are counterbalanced with
authenticity and deep, naturally echoing sound.  For example, preludes No.
1 and No.  6 sounded really good for me on the cembalo, maybe even better
than on the piano.  Anyway, Bach must have had exactly this sound in mind
and Gould's performances are for the noticeable part his own music based on
Bach.

Juozas Rimas