Elena Kuschnerova [Import]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Elena Kuschnerova (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Elena Kuschnerova
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (May 29, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Orfeo
• ASIN: B00005JXWI
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,997 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Italian Concerto BWV 971 - 1-No tempo indication

2. Italian Concerto BWV 971 - 2-Andante

3. Italian Concerto BWV 971 - 3-Presto

4. French Suite No.2 BWV 813 - 1-Allemande

5. French Suite No.2 BWV 813 - 2-Courante

6. French Suite No.2 BWV 813 - 3-Sarabande

7. French Suite No.2 BWV 813 - 4-Air

8. French Suite No.2 BWV 813 - 5-Menuett

9. French Suite No.2 BWV 813 - 6-Gigue

10. Toccata in E minor BWV 914

11. Partita No.6 in E minor BWV 830 - 1-Toccata

12. Partita No.6 in E minor BWV 830 - 2-Allemande

13. Partita No.6 in E minor BWV 830 - 3-Courante

14. Partita No.6 in E minor BWV 830 - 4-Air

15. Partita No.6 in E minor BWV 830 - 5-Sarabande

16. Partita No.6 in E minor BWV 830 - 6-Tempo di Gavotta

17. Partita No.6 in E minor BWV 830 - 7-Gigue

18. Prelude & Fugue in C minor from WTC, book 1

Editorial Reviews

American Record Guide, 11/12 2001 (Rob Haskins)

Listening to her Bach is something like observing a celestial clockwork.

Product Description

Elena Kuschnerova's all-Bach recital of March 2000 in Weinbrennersaal in Baden-Baden, Germany. This recital was initially recorded for a radio broadcast.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable concert, August 1, 2004

By 

Larry VanDeSande - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Elena Kuschnerova (Audio CD)

This remarkable CD, recorded during a 2000 concert in Baden Baden, was rightfully graded a rosette in the 2003-04 edition of the Penguin Guide to Classical CDs.

Elena Kuschnerova is not a name familiar to many classical music fans. She was instructed in Russia and now lives in Germany. This Bach album is extraordinary, showing a command of the keyboard with technique to burn and musical understanding beyond her years.

Yet, throughout the concert, the pianist eschews flashiness or technique for its own sake. She is consistently at the service of J.S. Bach and his intentions are completely fulfilled in ways that many far more famous pianists cannot match. All the while, her musical intelligence shows like a beacon on a pitch black evening.

The linchpin in this concert is the monumental Partita No. 6 in E minor, one of Bach's most dramatic keyboard creations that is every bit the equal of Beethoven's final all is dust piano sonatas.

From the dramatic opening scale of the Toccata to the closing bars of the seventh movement Gigue, Kuschnerova never fails to entertain, delight and enthrall with her combined command, technique and understanding. Far from being a traversal a Tocatta and six French dances, she creates an organic entity that carries the listener with its sweep and grandeur. Her playing has an inevitability that projects every phrase, every moment, every note in the score as being correct, dramatic and dignified.

The other pieces on this concert -- a French suite, a Toccata and the famous Italian Concerto -- are all done equally well in sound that is exemplary for a concert recording. On the basis of this CD, Kuschnerova can be cast in league with the greatest Bach exponents of this or any other era -- Richter, Gould and Tureck -- and is miles ahead of Bach contemporaries like Richard Goode, Maria Joao Pires and Pyotr Anderszewski. She is a better technician, a better colorist and more inclined to drama than Canada's Angela Hewitt, the reigning first lady of Bach in Great Britain.

Kuschnerova has every bit of Gould's technique mated to Tureck's understanding of J.S. Bach and Richter's incisive and intelligent approach. With Rosalyn Tureck's death, no living pianist I have heard in Bach recordings matches her gifts of technique, understanding, intelligence and drama.

On the basis of this recording, Kuschnerova should proceed to an acclaimed career in Bach. She has the mechanical tools, understanding and sustained technique to become a giant in Beethoven, as well.