There are many harpsichord-like Bach recordings on the piano, but daring harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani here offers something different: harpsichord readings of Bach's Six Partitas, BWV 825-830, that have a rather pianistic effect. Of course, a harpsichord can't produce the sounds of a sustain pedal (although Esfahani's instrument obtains great resonance from block chords in slow movements) or crescendos and decrescendos. Yet Esfahani's readings will remind listeners of a certain age of how it was when the piano was the norm ...
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There are many harpsichord-like Bach recordings on the piano, but daring harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani here offers something different: harpsichord readings of Bach's Six Partitas, BWV 825-830, that have a rather pianistic effect. Of course, a harpsichord can't produce the sounds of a sustain pedal (although Esfahani's instrument obtains great resonance from block chords in slow movements) or crescendos and decrescendos. Yet Esfahani's readings will remind listeners of a certain age of how it was when the piano was the norm for Bach. His fast dances are brilliant, taken at a quick clip and held to an unchanging tempo, while the slower ones are flexible and highly expressive. Esfahani uses a modern harpsichord by builder Jukka Ollikka, based on instruments by Michael Mietke (?-1719), and it's a beast, a powerful voice with an added bass register and a ringing top. He takes an innovative approach to the final gigue of the Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829, which Bach mysteriously notated in duple meter;...
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