"Perahia doing Bach, as Perahia does Bach: very clean and very smooth. Very un-Gould. If Gould uses the piano to try and emulate the detached sound of a harpsichord (always sans pedal), Perahia is almost the opposite. Having said so, the sound Perahia achieves in the second movement (largo) of Concerto No. 5 (BWV 1056) is simply fabulous … one of my favourite piano sounds on SACD (after the Tchetuev Schnittke SACD on Caro Mitis). Beautifully recorded. Perahia's Goldberg variations on SACD is now almost impossible to find, and this SACD seems to be heading the same way, so grab it while you can. Highly recommended." ~sa-cd.net
‘The happy years’: an expression that is particularly apt for J. S. Bach’s period in Cöthen. Freed from the obligations that held him back in Weimar and not yet caught up in the Leipzig treadmill, Prince Leopold’s protégé produced masterpieces of such flamboyance that Benjamin Alard could not resist the pleasure of inviting some of his dear musician friends to join him around the splendid three-manual harpsichord by Hass.
One of the very rare incursions of Riccardo Muti in pre-romantic repertoire, and featuring trumpetist Maurice André, this album gathers together two heavyweights in their discipline. It includes masterpieces of the trumpet concerto (with notably a virtuoso transcription of a violin concerto by Torelli) and the second Brandenburg Concerto, in which the trumpet holds a prominent place.
Nonesuch Records releases The Art of Instrumentation: Homage to Glenn Gould, by violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, on September 25, 2012, which would have been Gould’s 80th birthday. The album comprises 11 pieces and arrangements by contemporary composers that quote from or are inspired by works, mostly by Bach, that Gould famously recorded during his career; two Arnold Schoenberg pieces also are drawn upon in one piece.