Re: my GG bias, but...

[Juozas Rimas <JuozasRimas@takas.lt>]

> I'm interested in exploring recordings of Bach's works
> by other pianists.  I don't know if it's just my GG
> bias, but the few pianists that I have listened to, I
> haven't been entirely impressed or moved by.
>
> Can you recommend any recordings by pianists whom you
> think can almost be on par with GG?

Gee but this is a tough question, really. I don't like Gould's tempos in many
recordings but I still haven't heard another performer play Bach so *easily* (I
mean _natural_ easiness that healthy people walk down the street or eat with).

I'm now exploring Romantic Bach and probably only Richter plays as easily as
Gould (but Richter has certain disadvantages in other fields) . Hewitt plays
very neatly but you wouldn't say her music flows like a cascade without any
slightest hesitation, any shade of instability as in the most difficult fugues
by Gould. There's also another Romantic interpretation of both books of WTC by a
Jorg Demus freely available at MP3.com - so I started listening to those and
although in the slow renditions of fugues I noticed some great details I
couldn't notice in Gould's hasty runs but the easiness was of a considerably
lower level. He is a skilled player, of course, but ocassionaly you can feel
he's not completely sure.

Some of Tureck's Goldbergs are great. But you must avoid Wolfgang Ruebsam at all
costs :)

By the way, for me, one can play "easily" only on the piano - harpsichord
interpretations need other epithets. Although they're a different world that is
a must to explore.

Juozas Rimas Jr (not the one playing)
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/141/juozas_rimas.html