JS Bach Partita No. 3 in A minor, BWV 827; French Suites: No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813; No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814; No. 5 in G, BWV 816 Christian Zacharias (piano) MDG 90322806 (CD/SACD) 60:48 mins
Composed in the early 1720s when Bach was writing mostly instrumental music, these four keyboard suites are outwardly conventional, but replete with a complex range of mood and manner. Pianist Christian Zacharias is clearly alive to their wealth of nuance and technical intricacy.
The A minor Partita provides the greatest challenges in figuration and ornamentation. Zacharias’s way with the work is unfussy: he neither attempts to emulate the harpsichord, though he uses judicious punctuation with some carefully-placed spread chords; nor does he allow modern piano sonority to take over. His considered approach is evident in the care with which he phrases the bass of the A minor Partita’s opening ‘Fantasia’ and his strong feeling for its major structural points. The succeeding ‘Allemande’is pleasingly whimsical as are the lighter movements, and his reading of the ‘Sarabande’ is a triumph with a sustained inner glow that draws the listener in.
The slighter French Suites, written for Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena, are given concentrated, rounded performances. The C minor Suite’s gently soulful ‘Allemande’ is shaped beautifully, and the lighter dances have an appropriate feeling of elegant insouciance; unfortunately the concluding ‘Gigue’ is a little too clipped. Zacharias’s reading of the G major Suite is overall the most convincing of the group with poise and grace in the middle movements matched by a headily infectious reading of the ‘Gigue’. Perfection amidst such variety is a tall order; but for the most part Zacharias comes very close.
Jan Smaczny
