Bach for harpsichord, piano and harp

Abstract

Bach’s keyboard music represents what is perhaps some of the best-loved Baroque repertory, known as piano music to countless young students before they rediscover it in its original context. The seven collections reviewed here duplicate very few pieces and nearly all of the music has been widely recorded before, on both harpsichord and piano, a testament to the enduring appeal as well as the sheer quantity of Bach’s work as if any were needed. Paolo Zanzu’s Johann Sebastian Bach: The English Suitesbwv806–811 (Musica Ficta mf8032/3, issued 2020, 131ʹ) is possibly the most traditional in its conception—a collection of all six played on the harpsichord, a realization of the text as Bach left it to us. However, it is so much more than that—this is a real performance, with the performer speaking through Bach as much as the other way round. Many listeners may already have their own...