[.ca] Bach Inventions 3

Nice, but why so careful and boring?:
Many will surely find Schiffs playing to be delightful, and it is, but he seems to be embellishing things to the point when things starts to either fall apart or be plainly boring. These minatures should, to my liking, be played more straightforward, but still keep a springloaded driving momentum they way Gould masters it. Schiff is nevertheless great and does a better job than for instance Hewitt, Sebestyen, Peter Serkin and Martins. Buy both GG and Schiff and you'll have much fun. Try Inventions 5,7,13, 15 and Sinfonias 8, 11, 14 and 15.

What is all this fuss about Gould being better than Schiff?:
Schiff plays Bach extremely well with a beautiful tone. I personally think that Schiff plays better than Gould. An eccentric person, Gould mainly does what he wants. In some pieces, he plays them extroadinarily, but most pieces, they are a mess of complete rushing and absolutely no dynamics. In almost every song he plays, Schiff shows a perfection that no one else could have. I enjoy listening to him and learn a lot.

Schiff gets at the heart of the music:
These performances are valuable just as are most of Schiff's Bach recordings: they offer an important alternative to Gould's highly idiosyncratic and personal treatments of this music. Schiff manages to uncover all sorts of structural, harmonic, and phrasing nuances that are so important in this music, and which Gould often steamrolls over. Schiff is also technically impressive, possessing a touch which is generally light, though often assertive and forceful. These recordings seem to me to elucidate a good deal more about these pieces than any other recordings available. Get the Gould, but get these first.

Extremely gentle performance and great recording quality:
This recording is an extremely fine and expert performance of Bach's inventions. The sound quality is great, clean and bright.

A Somewhat "Romanticized" Bach Performance:
The first problem I have with this recording is the performer's extremely free additions of ornaments that are not in Bach's scores. While these may be somewhat justifiable as common practice in Baroque period music, they are rather unlikely considering the pedagogical nature of the composer's original intentions for these works. Schiff's use of outright RUBATO in places absolutely kills the forward-moving rhythms that one longs to hear in these pieces. Schiff's fabulous technique is evident in every piece, but his phrasing is almost as though he were playing Brahms, rather than Bach. Purists who are looking for an accurate performance from a historical perspective will NOT enjoy this CD. But again, the pianist's technical prowess is quite praiseworthy, despite the CD's lack of historical style considerations.

• Two-Part Inventions: No. 1 In C Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 2 In C Minor
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 3 In D Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 4 In D Minor
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 5 In E-Flat Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 6 In E Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 7 In E Minor
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 8 In F Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 9 In F Minor
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 10 In G Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 11 In G Minor
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 12 In A Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 13 In A Minor
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 14 In B-Flat Major
• Two-Part Inventions: No. 15 In B Minor
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 1 In C Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 2 In C Minor
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 3 In D Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 4 In D Minor
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 5 In E-Flat Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 6 In E Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No.7 In E Minor
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 8 In F Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 9 In F Minor
• Three-Part Inventions: No, 10 In G Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 11 In G Minor
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 12 In A Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 13 In A Minor
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 14 In B-Flat Major
• Three-Part Inventions: No. 15 In B Minor