Murray Perahia Johann Sebastian Bach: The French Suites 180g 2LP

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In 2023, Deutsche Grammophon celebrates a wonderful milestone: its 125th birthday. To mark the occasion, the Yellow Label makes a selection of LPs available on vinyl for the first time ever.

12 LPs for 12 months of celebrations.

Including legendary recordings by Daniil Trifonov, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Jan Lisiecki and many others.

Perahia's grandiose recording of Bach's French Suites is a true feast for music lovers and connoisseurs. Never has Bach sounded so natural and casual as in the hands of Perahia. The New York-born, multiple-Grammy and Echo Klassik award winner has felt a close connection with Bach for decades. At the age of 15, a performance of the St. Matthew Passion made such an impression on him that it sparked a remarkable passion for the master of baroque music. Thanks to Perahia's intensive study of Bach's works, one can enjoy the enormous emotional range of the French suites from the very first minute: From bittersweet melancholy to exultant joy, Bach's masterpiece covers an incomparably rich spectrum of emotions. Due to Perahia's brilliant interpretation, this recording will certainly join the ranks of the most legendary contemporary piano recordings.

Perahia has long been a marvelous Bach pianist, but the French Suites perhaps display his skills especially well....Perahia's genius resides not in some great overarching concept of how to play Bach but in finding the balance between disparate elements in a work, and in finding the human warmth in the result. Each movement is distinctive; each moment unfolds something new. You could really start sampling anywhere, but try the final gigue of the second suite, in C minor, where the little ornaments that form the central feature of the movement each take on a rather eerie individual significance. Perahia avoids extremes of tempo, and his extremely detailed approach could be called intellectual, but only if that word did not denote a certain coolness: Perahia is never cool. A wonderful Bach recording of the sort that one will return to again and again.