Customer Reviews

Well Tempered Clavier Book 1

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

 

 

Sergey Schepkin's very personal interpretation of Bach's WTC--Book One whets the appetite for what I hope will soon be his accounting of Book Two. Music that transcends time and place deserves to be reinterpreted often by musicians with a well-defined point of view and the conviction to dare to be themselves. Schepkin is such an artist. Clarity, resonance, punctuation, lyricism, sonority, and an electric sense of rhythm that cannot help but set the listener's feet dancing combine to produce the magic that Bach, so supremely versatile, must have intended. This greatest of composers offers an enormous range of possibilities to musicians of integrity who are willing to cast off the restrictions and rules developed through the centuries and followed dogmatically by lesser artists. Among many fine Bach players, Schepkin is a worthy, most welcome addition to the top of the "A" list.

I simply cannot understand the one-star rating of the first customer reviewer here. I have owned this Schepkin disc of the WTC-Book 1 for quite some time and it is one that I reach for as often as any I own - and I have probably a dozen WTC1s. His interpretation does not transgress the bounds of taste or authentic performance practice as some do, and yet he brings a freshness and élan to his playing that I find quite invigorating. His ornaments are always appropriate and yet often surprisingly inventive. Further, the recorded piano sound is lifelike; the bass is particularly rich here so that he doesn't seem to feel the need to do octave doublings as some interpreters do.

For what it's worth, I also love his 'Goldberg Variations' on this same label. I think young Mr Schepkin is an outstanding Bachian and I look for anything he records.

2 CDs - TT: 115:30

Scott Morrison

The market is full of great Bach's WTK recordings made by Russians: Richter, Feinberg, Feltsman, Afanassiev, etc....Why do we need to hear a vain attempt to copy all of the above by a good student from New England Conservatory? Only "Ongaku Records" knows the answer to that. This performance suffers from lack of taste, personality and inconsistent tempi in addition to questionable articulation and boring ornamentation.