Bach - Keyboard Concertos – Nos 1, 2 & 4

Academy of St Martin in the Fields / 
Murray Perahia pf

Sony Classical SK89245 Buy now

(53’ · DDD)

Soloist-conducted piano concertos can sometimes mean compromise, even chaos…but not in this case. As soloist, Perahia is his usual stylish, discreet and pianistically refined self. He takes the D minor Concerto’s opening at a fair lick, a hot-foot sprinter embellishing the line with taste and affecting a little ritardando, just as the mood momentarily brightens, à la Edwin Fischer. Elsewhere, he’s very much his own man, intensifying his tone for rising sequences or softening it to the most rarefied murmur. His command of colour is as striking here as it is on his CD of the Goldberg Variations, especially in the Adagio, which approaches cantorial heights of intensity.

As for the E major and A major Concertos, elegance is more of the essence than fire, but there too Perahia delivers. He has a way of accenting without jabbing the keys, tracing counterpoint while keeping the top line well to the fore. And how nice to hear the warming tone of a theorbo (bass lute) in the E major Concerto’s central Siciliano, a beautiful performance, more ornamental than cantorial, in keeping with the more decorative nature of the music.

Rivals are plentiful, but credible contenders at this level of interpretation are rare. Sviatoslav Richter plays with incredible control while keeping every note alive, but some might find his manner too austere. And while Edwin Fischer is consistently spontaneous, he’s rather less elegant than Perahia – and his version of the A major Concerto sounds as if it’s ‘Busonified’. András Schiff, like Perahia, commands a wide range of colours, though the binding force of Perahia’s concentration – always a boon in his latest recordings – leaves the stronger impression. The carefully balanced Sony recordings keep the sound frame tight and lively.