Denis Fodor summarised Joachim Kaiser's review of Perahia:

>Seldom, if ever, has Kaiser been so unrestrainedly ecstatic:" Perahia
>played totally without conceit...Yet the 53 year-old pianist did take
>Bach impressively seriously.  He demonstrated a sovereign grasp of his
>instrument...When Bach in Variations 5,14,20,23, and 26 demands breakneck,
>hair-raising sensitivity, Perahia came up with it majestically.  His was
>a triumph of sensitivity and virtuosity...."

To be honest, the impression I got (from the review) was rather more more
mixed - yes, there was praise aplenty, but it was not unqualified: hints
came through that the playing tended to be too 'sensitive' (in a negative
sense), a bit soft-grained and small-scaled, to the detriment of the work's
large-scale architectural grandeur, quite apart from the repeats issue. But
given that Kaiser is not a great fan of Perahia's generally (well, neither
am I), you are right, this was an uncommonly positive review.

Felix Delbruck
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