Hopkinson Smith J.s. Bach. Suites Nos.1,2,3 (2013) [qobuz 24 96]

Chandos Chaconne's J.C. Bach: Overture "Adriano in Siria" features the Academy of Ancient Music under Simon Standage in four symphonies (one is an overture; for Bach there was no difference between the structure and function of these two forms) and the Sinfonia Concertante in C major, T. 289/4. The last-named work is the best music here; a loving realization featuring soloists Rachel Brown (flute), Frank de Bruine (oboe), and conductor Standage (violin) combining in pleasing harmony while managing to shine individually. This is exactly what Bach had in mind when he wrote the music, and this performance is to be preferred over the only other recording of the work on Capriccio.

Murray Perahia is one of the few genuine stars of the piano. His recordings of Bach have been widely, although not universally acclaimed, and even the doubters have to concede that sheer force of personality has helped him command the attention of audiences. The six Bach partitas seem to go together as a set, but Perahia differentiates them to a point where you feel you have all you can handle with just a single disc; the present release is the second in a set of two. None of this is to say that his Bach is of the flashy type.

There are those for whom playing Bach's Goldberg Variations on anything but a harpsichord is an aesthetic sin. The work, they argue, was written to be played on the harpsichord and any other instrument is simply wrong. Then there are those for whom playing the Goldberg Variations on anything but a modern piano is an aesthetic mistake. The work, they contend, may have been written to be played on the harpsichord, but that is no reason to deny the music the clarity and power of the modern concert grand.

Freddy Kempf is a fast-rising young star of the piano literature known for his outstanding virtuosity and independence. Any complaints about Kempf's music-making concern the issues of mannerisms and characterization. Unfortunately, these complaints rear their heads in Kempf's new Bach recording of two of the six keyboard partitas. First, the good stuff. Kempf has 'flying fingers' and an overall technique that is very impressive; just listen to his dynamic accounts of the Gigues from each Partita.

The appetite for evolving performance practices in Bach’s St Matthew Passion appears undiminished as we have gradually shifted, over the generations, from larger to smaller ensembles and also towards a greater dramatic understanding of the implications of Bach’s ambitious ‘stereophonic’ double choir and orchestra choreography. René Jacobs has never been shy of a new hunch and taking it as far as (and sometimes beyond) what is either reasonable or defining.

Murray Perahia's Bach recordings are low-key, somewhat in the vein suggested by Bach's modest use of the words "Clavier-Übung," keyboard exercise, to describe the partitas played here in their published form. There is none of the eccentricity of Glenn Gould and none of the hard monumentality of András Schiff. Perahia is content to be straightforward and simple, choosing his points of emphasis with care. At first his playing, like Bach's title, seems too modest, but soon you realize that for sheer clarity in polyphonic textures he is unexcelled.