Bach Six Partitas

*****

Bach Six Partitas (ECM)


Verdict: Revisiting Bach, a peerless pianist creates definitive interpretations for the new century.

Reading Andras Schiff's programme note for his new recording of the Bach Partitas, one is struck by the man's humility.

"Great music is far greater than its performers," he states. "We try our entire lives to unveil its secrets and to convey its unique message. Even if we never quite reach the imaginary goal, our many performances give us experience and knowledge that was hidden from us years ago."

Schiff first recorded these works in the mid-1980s and this new ECM set suggests that two decades of experience have inspired fresh insights and new freedoms.

All of which have been captured in a Stephan Schellmann production that catches the nuance of every note, in the same Historischer Reitsadel, Neumarkt, where Schiff recorded the final instalment of his recent Beethoven project.

Reordering the six Partitas into a more logical key sequence, the pianist's invention seems limitless. Schiff deals out an almost bewildering display of riches, from the quiet humour of the opening G major Preambulum to the jagged flourishes of the E minor Fugue, hinting that this could be where the spirit of Schoenberg might have found its source.

Played without sustaining pedal and set in a particularly resonant space, there is an almost miraculous range and variety within the various dances. If the D major Sarabande is all elegance, with cadences that almost seem to blush, the same dance in A minor is a spikier affair, with bristling ornamentation.

In the Sarabande from the C minor Partita, Bach's shapely lines seem to sigh as if they were distant forebears of the Chopin Nocturne.

The B flat Partita, so much associated with the dying Dinu Lipatti's last recital at Besancon in 1950, sets off with a Praeludium that is the epitome of buoyant grace. Its two Minuets, the simplest of all the Partita movements, flicker with ornaments that leave a tingle in the ears, while the final Gigue has the virtuoso glint of a Scarlatti Sonata.

This partnership of German composer and Hungarian pianist has resulted in a CD that may well make most other recordings of these works dispensable.