Richard Troeger is currently in the process of recording all of Bach's
keyboard works on the clavichord for the Lyrichord label.  He has already
recorded the Inventions/Sinfonias and the Toccatas for Harpsichord.
Reviews have been excellent, and Troeger appears well on his way to making
his mark as a major Bach performing artist.  The catalog number of the
Partitas is LEMS-8038.  I'll be comparing Troeger's set as I go along
mainly to the best of the Leonhardt and Pinnock versions; now and then
I'll throw in other great performances.

Partita No. 1 in B flat major - Troeger's swaying and noble Praeludium
has great forward momentum and is the equal of Leonhardt's performance.
Troeger, like Maggie Cole on Virgin, is quite fast in the Allemande, almost
two minutes faster than Leonhardt.  Troeger is very exciting but not as
much as Cole; Leonhardt's slow and inward reading presents an entirely
different approach from Troeger which I like even more than Cole.  The
Corrente has joy, content, and excitement as its foundations.

Troeger provides as fine and effervescent a performance as any I've heard.
The dignified and tender Sarabande is in great hands with Troeger providing
a heart-felt performance which strikes the music's core.  Happiness leaps
out of the speakers in Troeger's Menuet I, but Menuet II finds Troeger
slightly too demonstrative and no match for Leonhardt's elegant Menuet II.
Troeger gets back to superb playing with the concluding Gigue which he
fully invests with infectious good cheer.

My early impressions are that Troeger's set might end up being one of the
best available, in the same league as the Leonhardt.  Troeger adopts faster
tempos than Leonhardt, but I find them quite similar in superbly conveying
the essence of Bach's music.  The only blot on Troeger's B flat major is a
foreceful Menuet II; I am most impressed with the Praeludium where Troeger
provides a sense of inevitability that's irresistable.

Partita No. 2 in C minor - Although the B flat major's first movement
Praeludium is outstanding music, the C minor's Sinfonia is even better.
It's in three parts: dotted rhythm introduction, lyrical and urgent
Andante, and an exciting Fugue.  Leonhardt's version was about the best
around, but Troeger surpasses him largely based on his magical introduction
which is the epitome of majesty and depth.  Troeger's Andante is filled
with longing and foreboding, and the Fugue is a thrilling ride.

Troeger's Allemande is loaded with superbly phrased longing and urgency
just as is Leonhardt's; Troeger's cascading notes are very pleasureable.
The Courante finds Troeger again placing great priority on urgency; that's
also Leonhardt's approach.  The gorgeous Sarabande also benefits from
longing and urgency; Troeger fully provides them.  The last two movements,
an exciting and frisky Rondeaux followed by a wild Capriccio, are magical
in the hands of Trevor Pinnock.  Troeger doesn't quite reach Pinnock's
exalted level but he consistently finds the playfulness of the Rondeaux
and the excitement provided by the Capriccio.

The first four movements of the C minor Partita are largely about urgency
and longing.  Leonhardt's peformances are exceptional because he recognizes
this and executes superbly; Troeger does the same and gives the best
reading of the Sinfonia's introduction on record.  Although not as fine
as Pinnock in the last two movements, Troeger equals the Leonhardt
interpretations.

Partita No. 3 in A minor - The opening Fantasia is two part invention
which Rosalyn Tureck does expertly; Troeger is close to her level with an
exciting reading.  The Allemande is highly elegant and tinged with regret;
Troeger captures the mood just right and equals Leonhardt.  Speaking of
Leonhardt, his Corrente has a wealth of power and thrills, particularly
in the second theme.  It's a revelatory reading which Troeger can't quite
match.  He is certainly exciting but his faster tempo is not conducive to
the cumulative collecting of great amounts of energy in the second theme;
nobody rivals Leonhardt in this respect.  Leonhardt is also better than
Troeger in the aristocratic and tender Sarabande, fully displaying both
qualities.  Troeger is a little short on tenderness.

The next two movements, the Burlesca and the Scherzo, are made for power,
thrills, and perpetual motion; Pinnock is the king of these two movements.
Although very enjoyable, Troeger can't match Pinnock's power, and this
is where I need to say a few words about the clavichord.  The instrument
is ideal to express longing, melancholy, urgency, mystery, playfulness,
tenderness, and a host of other emotions.  I do not consider it close to
ideal in expressing power, and I keep noticing that Troeger can't equal the
best alternative versions when power is a prime ingredient of the music.
This is an element I also have been noticing in Troeger's disc of the
Toccatas where power is more pervasive than in the Partitas.

The A minor Gigue is what I refer to as the "All Hell Breaks Loose" gigue.
Tureck, who seems to deconstruct the established geological order, and the
slower Leonhardt are my favorite versions.  I find that Troeger is close
but that his clavichord just can't provide that last ounce of power I
desire.

Although I've carped quite a bit about Troeger's clavichord, his
performances in the A minor are very good.  He is too fast in the Corrente
and his Sarabande lacks tenderness, but these are problems which only
stand out when compared to the best alternative versions.  Through three
Partitas, Troeger's readings have, overall, been as excellent as
Leonhardt's.

Partita No. 4 in D major - This is probably Bach's most loved harpsichord
partita and it deserves that recognition.  Leonhardt often misses the boat
in the D major, but Pinnock and Tureck rise to the occasion and also have
to contend with Glenn Gould's revelatory D major which is one of his
greatest achievements on record.  The D major is loaded with opportunities
to express heroism and ceremony; Gould is magical these areas.  This will
be a great test of Troeger's ability to reach the top levels of performance
and interpretation.

The D major begins with a French-style Overture having a double dotted
Grave followed by three part Fugue.  Tureck, Gould, and Pinnock give
outstanding performances.  Tureck is slow, probing, and uses a stunning
staccato.  Gould's majesty is supreme, and Pinnock is perpetual motion in
the fugue.  Does Troeger match up to any of this? Not really.  The Grave
and Fugue need much strength and as much as Troeger tries to supply it, his
instrument won't allow it.  As an example, in the Grave Troeger plays the
lower register notes as powerfully as possible to provide the requisite
strength; however, it just makes those low notes stick out like a sore
thumb.  The quickly decaying sound of the instrument is also
disadvantageous.

A wonderful Allemande follows which is life-affiriming and gorgeous.  I
prefer a strong projection of life's rewards and find Tureck and Gould
magical in their interpretations.  Troeger is way below their level and
quite a come-down.  First, the bass notes which are the foundation of the
Allemande are too weakly projected; it sounds as if Troeger is doing his
best to elicit some strength from them but to little avail.  Second, and
this has nothing to do with the instrument used, Troeger sounds to me a
little awkard and not sure how to handle the music.  He pulls the rhythm
around occasionally and is not very fluid.  If we think of the conversation
between the right and left hands, there isn't much of one.  If Troeger
keeps going at this rate, he will deconstruct before the end of the
Partita.

Fortunately, Troeger gets back on track with an outstanding Courante which
is highly lyrical and exciting; it rivals the Gould recording.  Gould's
Aria is also exceptionally heroic.  Troeger plays it very well but can't
match Gould's swagger.  As wonderfully as Gould has played the D major up
to this point, he totally blows away the competition in the urgent and
elegant Sarabande.  Gould also blows Troeger away as well.  To Troeger's
credit, his reading has much urgency, but it doesn't convey as wide a range
of emotional variety as the Gould interpretation.  Troeger's Menuet is
loaded with a great blend of joy and urgency; it's as good as any other
I've heard.  The concluding Gigue gets a dynamic performance from Troeger
fully equal to the superb performance from Pinnock.

Overall, Troeger's Partita in D major is highly worthy and goes out
strongly with a great Menuet and Gigue.  However, the Overture displays
some weakness in Troeger's clavichord, and Troeger has nobody to blame
but himself for an unimpressive Allemande.  So, Troeger does not reach the
heights that Gould climbs but does offer some valuable insights and very
pleasureable readings.

Partita No. 5 in G major - G major is usually a happy key and Bach
certainly lets loose with some rollicking good times.  I listened to the
excellent Tureck and Pinnock versions in addition to the Troeger.  Both
Tureck and Pinnock are still great listening experieces which would be
hard to equal.  Aside from the Tempo di Minuetta, Troeger delivers great
readings.  His Corrente and Sarabande are second to none.  The concluding
Gigue is a superb double fugue with the themes turned on their heads.  With
Pinnock, the inversions sound like the bowels of the Earth are grinding
their way upward.

With Troeger, that effect which is made by the bass notes, just sounds
annoying.  That's a shame since Troeger is outstanding in the first section
of the Gigue.  Overall, this is another fine set of performances by Troeger
again let done some by his instrument.

I need to relate something else about Troeger's sound.  The G major is
the first time I used my headphones in the set.  I was very surprised to
notice that there's a metallic reverberation from the clavichord which is
noticeable after some strongly played notes.  It's not a pleasant noise,
and I'm also surprised that it has not been mentioned in any of the reviews
I have read.

Partita No. 6 in E minor - This Partita is well served by Troeger except
for the opening Toccata.  He is altogether too fast and presents somewhat
of a caricature of the music.  On the other hand, Troeger's Sarabande is
a revelation to me that I won't forget; it even surpasses Leonhardt's
exceptional performance.

I have some mixed feelings about Troeger's set of the Partitas.  After
the first two Partitas, I was thinking that the set could be outstanding.
But in the third Partita, I noticed a lack of tenderness in the Sarabande,
too fast a tempo in the Corrente, and some deficiency of power from the
clavichord mainly centered in the lower registers.  In the fourth Partita,
Troeger has trouble with the Overture and Allemande which are two of the
most rewarding movements in the entire set.  With the fifth Partita, bass
lines can be problematic and I notice an undersireable noise when using my
headphones.  In the last Partita, Troeger ruins the Toccata which is
another wonderful piece of music.

Personally, I would have preferred if Troeger had used a harpsichord for a
few of the movements such as the D major Allemande and the G major Gigue.
Too jarring a contrast? Perhaps so, but a poor match of instrument and
music puts a performance in a hole before it even begins.

I end up recommending the Troeger set, warts and all.  Even with the power,
bass, and reverberation problems and also with three non-competitive
performances of the best of Bach, Troeger shows an artistry which is very
impressive.  His Sarabandes are particularly distinctive and rewarding.
Also, there's the flip-side to the use of the clavichord.  It's a wonderful
instrument for many moods that take shape in the Partitas.

Don's Conclusions: Recommended with caution.  Pinnock, Gould, Leonhardt,
and Tureck are still the preferred sets.  If you buy Troeger, remember that
the recordings are headphone challenged.

Don Satz
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