Album: Bach, Partitas/Andras Schiff (ECM New Series)

Twenty-five years after his first recording of Bach's Partitas, Schiff returns to these works with new ideas, some seemingly informed by his directing of the Brandenburg Concertos from the keyboard.

The C minor, D major and E minor Partita are the most successful, with fine voicing of the fugal subjects, delicate decorations and an almost orchestral grandeur to the opening movements. Less convincing are the G major, A minor and B-flat major Partitas, where he imposes an almost Romantic notion of contemplative solitude.