Customer Reviews

Bach: The Six French Suites

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Superb recording by one of my favourite Bach performers. This time even Glenn Gould's interpretation falls short. Schiffs delightful, bouncy style, fits the French Suites just perfectly and is more enjoyable than Gould's more powerful playing for these works. Just listen to the Gigue of #1, Gavotte of #5 and the Bourrees of the Ouverture. Good job Andras, your best Bach!

András Schiff is one of the best Bach players among Gould, Rosalyn Tureck and Wanda Landowska. On Schiff's French Suites, every part from every suite has a different color and gives you different feeling. Every harmony is taken to its end with care, and dynamic balance is always delightful to listen. Articulation of the notes is excellent, full of humour, and in some places you surely start to smile and you feel very happy when you listen to Schiff. He also plays the slow parts very deeply and warmly, which is for some artists a big problem when playing Bach. There are also Italian Concerto and French Overture on the CD's, played brilliantly, so this set is really worth buying. Recommended for everyone.

I must admit that despite admiring most of Schiff's version(s) of J.S. Bach's works, I don't think that he has most of these pieces as highly refined / polished as some of his other pieces. Nevertheless, despite being slightly off his peak doesn't mean that he's any less than Gould; in fact, the amount of thought put into his playing (including embellishments!) is considerably more intelligent than Gould's. This recording merits the full 5 stars, but not the special 6 stars that Schiff so obviously deserves with some of his other recordings of other works.

The reason I brought this CD is mainly for my comparison with the Andrei Gavrilov on the French suite no. 5. My conclusion is: In many ways, I think Schiff seems to be trying very hard to make the piano sounds like harpsichord while playing all those baroque music. In a big contrast, Gavrilov has totally captured the very nature of piano and played the no. 5 suite so beautifully!!

The genius and humanity of J.S. Bach are nowhere on better display than his French Suites, and this recording does not dissapoint. Andras Schiff gives us his usual flawless and inspired interpration of Bach and reminds us how pleased the old master would have been to hear his works played on a modern piano. The inclusion of Bach's Italian Concerto and Partita in B flat minor are an additional treat on the CD. This is a must-own collection for anyone who claims to have more than a passing interest in baroque masterpieces and no better recording of Bach's French Suites will be found anywhere.

This cd set arrived just in time but with a crack in the jewel case. My original order had been canceled by the business, but my replacement order was very prompt. I would say "Boo" on the original business and "Yea" for the replacement company.

What a fundamentally ludicrous way to play Bach! This isn't a rendition of six individual suites... it's 82 minutes of one gigantic "French Suite," period. Schiff doesn't penetrate, doesn't differentiate. No, not at all. The light and dark hues inherent in this music he rides roughshod over completely. He contents himself with merely skittering around the keyboard, mostly, and because of this there is a "sameness" about every movement that borders on absolutely incredible tediousness. Under Schiff's fingers, Bach cannot "breathe." The pianist, in a whirlwind, allows no real ebb and flow, no real give and take. Emotion and depth just seem to elude him completely. It's a "rush job," a disservice to Bach and the French Suites, and the kind of pianism that stereotypifies what people of a non-classical bent think Bach's music is: monotonous. (One simply need listen to Wolfgang Rubsam's performances of Bach's English Suites on Naxos to realize just how Bach can sound.)

Unfortunately, Schiff drones on with his homogenous renditions of the French Overture in Bm and the Italian Concerto in F, both included on the second disc of the set. Ordinarily, I would rejoice at the inclusion of these exceptional works, but not in this case.

To add insult to injury, the London sound image is typically ambient and adds yet another annoying element into the mix.

[Running time--- CD 1: 51:54 CD 2: 75:18]

Nobody can play French suits of Bach better than Andras Schiff. Very good quality I must say.