yes! I noticed that!

in fact, probably baroque music used to have much more rubato than that of the romantic period. but I still prefer that, on piano, it is played more straight (rubato is allowed, but extremely restricted). why? tradition?

Yes I think she is a great pianist too. Have you seen her video 'Bach on the Frontier'?

Here is an excerpt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNVduEaQ ... 32&index=3

I have been given some advice from a harpsichordist on rubato. The performance practice experts are often the source of this sentiment against rubato in Bach, and this harpsichordist in particular felt it was only appropriate in certain places, and I have realized that there is a great deal of disagreement among HIP experts on exactly where rubato might be appropriate. All of their opinions are based on writings (often translated), not recordings, so there's a great deal of room for error or misinterpretation. I try not to worry about it too much. If I feel that rubato is appropriate, I use it.

By far, my favorite Bach pianist is Angela Hewitt. What I find unique about her performances is the amount of variety that she puts into each piece. She uses a lot of dynamics, changes in touch to alter character, appropriate accents to hold attention, and wide range of tempi. What stands out to me is her highly diversified approach to Bach. Her style cannot be pinpointed because she is different in almost every piece in a set.

I enjoyed her playing, but there was something missing in it. I think the missing element was just personality - yes, she uses a lot of variety, but it's like I never really feel like there is a character behind that variety. But I seem to be near alone in requiring this of pianists....and it may be that I haven't listened to the right performance yet. (Any recommendations?)

That being said, variety is important, and it's what makes working on Bach so intimidating for me now. I went through a phase for about a year or two where I worked on almost nothing but Bach, much as I've done recently with Chopin etudes (to the point of neglecting Bach), but I think I got scared away when working on the E minor partita, because there was so much I wanted to do with it, and just couldn't. It's enough work to master what's on the page. But Angela Hewitt's video has many helpful suggestions on articulation and whatnot. I love the expression on her face when she says you can't just bang out the subject.

Well of course Glenn Gould has no shortage of personality There's also a lovely old recording of Horszowski doing book 1 of the WTC.

Piano only:

Classic Recordings:
Jorg Demus (original, first recording of Books 1 and 2)
Sviatoslav Richter 1973 recordings (Bach, God, and Richter.... I leave it to the listener to figure who's at the top)
Feinberg (Book 2 is full of insights, but definitely not historically accurate... just phenomenal pianism, nonetheless)
Gould (not crazy about these)
Tureck (not crazy about these, either)
Loesser (some people think this is the Bible; very, very old recordings; they just don't turn my crank)
Edwin Fischer (this version is in the Great Pianists of the Century collection; and yes there are some beautiful interpetations of the slower fugues.)

Newer, but still good or, at least, interesting:
Barenboim (totally non-strict liberty-taking interpretation with phenomenal control and technique)
Schepkin (by the book, but letter perfect technique)
Cload (very romantic, reverberent recording.... but replete with stunning performances of many p and f)
Koroliov (I only have his Book 1, but truly a thinking person's Bach)


Somewhat Interesting:
Bernard Roberts (OK... many folks call him a second-tier pianist, but his WTC is absolutely better than most)
Nikolayeva (once told Richter, or said about Richter, apparently, that he didn't know how to play Bach!.... well.... you can't be right all the time)
Horszowski (romantic, but interesting, book 1 only)
Pollini (sort of pleasing, in places, book 1 only)
Jando (a little heavy-handed, but some great performances in certain instances)

Just NOT my cup of tea:
Hewitt (both versions; very pretty but boring interpretations)
Afanassiev (brilliant but boring; harsh recording sound)
Schiff (Can play Bach, but just wasn't "on" when he did these years ago)
Feltsman (A total yawn for me, but some people get into his interpretations)
Keith Jarrett (Book 1 piano; Book 2 harpsichord.... I love his Handel Suites and his Shostakovitch P&F, but the Bach is yawn..)
Aldwell (by-the-book-yawn)

JG

Terez, have you heard Wolfgang Rubsam? He's the only pianist (mainly organist) I know who recorded Bach AND studied Baroque performance practice. There is no youTube video with him... but you can listen to his entire piano recording on http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com. He recorded English and French suites, Sinfonias and Inventions, Partitas, Fantaisie Chromatique, Italian Concerto, and some WTC preludes.

About harpsichordists, Gustav Leonhardt is a great reference (if not the greatest of all. =D).
There is also his pupil Robert Hill. Pieter Belder is excellent also. All of them studied Baroque performance.



Hm... looks like someone changed his mind from 2008 to 2012.

I just found another pianist who plays with Baroque articulation and inflection: Cristopher Sager.

Beautiful performances:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4aFpjYYWPk

Angela Hewitt I have seen on my video-sharing site here Youku.com playing the WTC. Fine performances, clean voicing and good tempo. I hear she is giving a masterclass in London next month, would like to see that

Also, though some detest his "romantic" playing of the WTC, Daniel Barenboim, his 2006 recording is quite fine. I don't think it's that romantic, there is just a little more tempo freedom in his, but it's nothing of the tempo freedom that we hear from Dinnerstein. Of course, Dinnerstein hasn't recorded the WTC.

Czaja Sager doing the partitas: haven't heard these. Quite beautiful, old-fashioned piano-playing, almost out of another century... Hard to figure! Just slow enough that he's forcing the listener to listen--again--to what's happening in the Partitas that we may have missed when we were "younger"!!!