Despite the trend toward historically oriented performances of
Bach
's keyboard music, versions played on a piano continue to appear. They entail numerous choices. Should the piano sound like a harpsichord? Should the pedals be used? The locus classicus for piano performances of
's keyboard concertos are the readings by
Glenn Gould
with conductors
Leonard Bernstein
and
Vladimir Golschmann
, dating as far back as 1957. Now comes this one by pianist
Tianqi Du
with the
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
under
Jonathan Bloxham
, released with a booklet in English and Mandarin and a good example of albums targeting classical music's growing demographic in China. It is quite strong.
Du
neither goes full Romantic nor tries to make his piano sound harpsichord-like. In the outer movements, he favors clean, precise articulation broken up by ornaments and, in the
Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052
, a little cadenza. It is the type of performance that sets a constant texture and gets a lot of mileage out of varying it just slightly.
's slow movements are delicate and beautifully shaded. The string group from the
is larger than those
would have known, but its balance with the piano in
Bloxham
's hands is just right.
, coming here on the heels of his recording of the
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
, seems to be emerging as a
specialist, and he certainly bears watching in this regard. ~ James Manheim