Murray Perahia's new recording of Beethoven: Piano Sonatas No. 9 in E, Op. 14, No. 1; No. 10 in G, Op. 14 No. 2; No. 12 in A flat, Op. 26; No. 15 in D, Op. 28 (Pastoral) is BBC Music Magazine's Disc of the Month for January 2009.  This issue features a Misha Donat's wonderful review, excerpted below, and an interview by Daniel Jaffe.

LETTING BEETHOVEN SPEAK FOR HIMSELF
Misha Donat hails Murray Perahia's triumphant return to Beethoven with a recording of some of his less famous but utterly charming piano sonatas.

PERFORMANCE - 5 STARS
RECORDING - 5 STARS

Anna Picard, a classical critic for London newspaper The Independent named Bach: Partitas 2, 3 & 4 to her Best of 2008 list.  She writes "Murray Perahia's effortless 'Partitas' were significant additions to the library".  To read the article, please visit www.independent.co.uk.

"No One Does it Better than Murray Perahia"
- The San Francisco Chronicle

"Lots of performers play Bach on the modern piano. No one does it better than Murray Perahia, whose command of sonorities, dynamics and phrasing makes you hear the piano as an ideal Baroque instrument. These perfectly judged accounts of three partitas are full of persuasive insights and beguiling subtleties. In Partita No. 2, Perahia gives the Courante a thrusting momentum in advance of a patient and spacious Sarabande; his Rondeaux flexes around smartly articulated seventh intervals. The opening Fantasia in Partita No. 3 is a marvel of transparency and balance between the two hands; the Gigue gets a hypnotically heavy tread. Nothing is lovelier than the languid Allemande in Partita No. 4. Perahia just gets better and better". - The San Francisco Chronicle

4 Stars - "The love affair between Murray Perahia and J.S. Bach continues. In the American-born pianist's first Sony-BMG recording in three years, he plays three of the six keyboard exercises that Bach described as "galanteries composed for music lovers to refresh their spirits".

As with his set of "Goldberg Variations" of eight years ago, Perahia achieves an exquisite balance between pianistic sensitivity -- enough pedal to give the sound a glow, enough rubato to make a phrase "sing"-- and disciplined attention to the Baroque form and energy of Bach's music. One might like a few more ornaments (Bach played loads), but they tend to muddy the waters on a piano. Why, one wonders, did we love Glenn Gould's dry and sometimes willfully speedy Bach interpretations of the 1950s and '60s? Because he made us listen to the music again, after decades of heavy pedal and soupy romantic interpretation. Perahia makes us hear the music again, too, by playing with warm-heartedness to lift the notes off the page and set them dancing in your mind. Listen to the fugue that ends No. 4, for example, and try to avoid smiling. Nos. 1, 5 and 6 can't be far behind". - The News & Observer (North Carolina)

"Der amerikanische Pianist Murray Perahia hat Bachs Partiten Nr. 2, 3 und 4 ganz innig und intim eingespielt. Eine Sternstunde!" (Translation: "American pianist Murray Perahia has now recorded Bach's Partitas nos. 2, 3 and 4 in an utterly heartfelt and intimate setting. A truly great moment!") - STERN (Germany)

5 Stars - "This is time for rejoicing. He's back, the man dogged by bad luck. After an absence of - believe it or not - more than three years, Murray Perahia is back on the scene, and he has been in the recording studio in order to take advantage of the moment. And naturally, Perahia chose to record music by his all-time idols no. 1 and no. 2: Bach and Beethoven. The results, at least for the Bach (Beethoven is to follow later), are of a compelling intensity. Perahia plays the Partitas nos. 2 through 4, in C minor, A minor and B flat respectively, and his reading is characterised above all by a profound and sometimes solemn gravity, an almost philosophical seriousness which never triumphs, nor seeks to be chic or extravagant. Perahia proves himself to be a servant of a dual material, a twofold sense of being and existence: firstly as the servant of the composer and then as the servant of his idea. The tempos are all relatively moderate in this project: the recordings are impressive for the pianist's exquisite supplenessof delivery, his wonderful (and in the pedalling, wonderfully filigree) balance of pressure and lightness of touch (which never falls into the sphere of weightlessness, since Perahia presumably is too afraid of going down that route). Uninsistently insistent, Perahia is always aware of the nuances, especially in the slow movements, the sarabandes and allemandes. And what a skilled diversity Perahia demonstrates in his interpretation, what spectrum of tonal shades, all masterfully evident in the longest allemande in Bach's piano oeuvre, the piece from the D major Partita. Here too, we learn what a great story-teller Perahia is, the diverse range of his playing. This recording, like many others, is a joy to listen to". (Translated from the French) - Rondo

Murray Perahia's universally acclaimed recording of Bach: Partitas 2, 3 & 4 receives 10/10 review from ClassicsToday.com!

If there's a single moment throughout the three Partitas on this gorgeously engineered disc where Murray Perahia produces less than a vibrant, singing sonority, sculpts a polyphonically unaware phrase, or fails to nail a perfect tempo, then I've missed something. Certainly you shouldn't miss the marvels of Perahia's intelligent, technically refined, and inherently musical Bach pianism. At first the C minor Partita's Grave introduction sounds slightly fragmented, phrased in a stop/start manner. But a quick glance at the score reveals that Perahia simply is observing the rests. In the Andante (indeed, everywhere) the conversational give and take Perahia effects between both hands unfolds naturally, without artificial highlighting of voices or exaggerating articulation. Notice also how a moderate basic pulse and the full-bodied quality of the pianist's non-legato touch elegantly underlines the Rondeaux's genuine dance-oriented profile--and ditto for the A minor Partita's Courante.

The pianist also sustains the D major Partita's large-scale dimensions without losing sight of the inner movements' intimate, almost lute-like characteristics. For example, Perahia takes full lyrical advantage of the Allemande's highly decorative right-hand lines, yet keeps the slower left-hand lines alive and harmonically alert. This applies as well to the Sarabande. Although the final Gigue is brisk, it never sounds the least bit rushed by virtue of Perahia's firmly centered timekeeping and thoughtful accentuation. As a result, the cross-rhythmic implication of certain phrases resonates loud and clear. Perahia embellishes the repeats with style, imagination, and discretion. I fervently hope that the remaining three Partitas will follow in due course. - Jed Distler

Piano Sonatas, Opp. 26, 14 and 28 Murray Perahia (piano)
(Sony Classical 88697326462) £13.99
It's been Murray Perahia's year, with the landmark Bach Partitas recording (his first release in three years), the re-release of the English Suites, his triumphant return to the Proms and now a collection of Beethoven sonatas. He bookends this set with the later, mercurial Op 26 and 28, placing the 'lesser' Op 14 works in their midst, forcing us to address them afresh and acknowledge that in his hands these pieces, once considered minor, deserve the same respect as the thrilling fireworks of the later sonatas. Highly recommended.
Stephen Pritchard

Or listen to an audio version of the interview

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770 - 1827)

Sonata No. 12, Op. 26 in A flat major (1800/01)
Sonata No. 9, Op. 14, No. 1 in E Major (1798/9)
Sonata No. 10, Op. 14, No. 2 in G Major (1798/9)
Sonata No. 15, Op. 28 in D Major, "Pastoral" (1801)

In recent years, eminent pianist Murray Perahia has immersed himself in works by Johann Sebastian Bach. His previous recording of Bach Partitas Nos. 2, 3 and 4 (released March 2008) garnered international acclaim. Now, a while asfter hsi Sony Classical releases of Beethoven Sonatas, Op. 10, No. 3 and Op. 57 (1984), Op. 2, Nos. 1 - 3 (1990/94) and Op. 101 (2004), he returns once more to Beethoven. This is an entirely natural step, as Perahia himself noted in a March 2008 interview with The Daily Telegraph, "Composers took Bach as their bedrock, whether it be Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann or Chopin". In a way, the sonatas he has chosen for this new recording span the arc from J.S. Bach's variation works and the piano phantasies of Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach to the modern piano style. There are two dramatic four-movement sonatas, written at the time of the onset of the composer's deafness. The daring Sonata, Op. 26 has no movement in sonata form at all. It starts with an unconventional set of them and variations, followed by a strange Scherzo, a funeral march "on the death of a hero," as teh score indicates and a strange Rondo with daring modulations. As a complete opposite, the famous "Pastoral" Sonata, Op. 28 is introverted and reminiscent of Schubert. These two pieces frame the two early, short Sonatas, Op. 14, both in three movements and closer to the conventions of the last 18th century. Just as with bach, these works demand, according to Perahia, "emotions and intellect working together".

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Murray Perahia has been nominated for the pretigious Classic FM/Gramophone Artist of the Year. Now in its 32nd year, the Classic FM Gramophone Awards are often referred to as the "Oscars" of the classical music world and are held to celebrate and reward the finest classical musicians and artists for the year.

You can vote until August 22, 2008 by visiting www.classicfm.co.uk or www.gramophone.co.uk. The winner will be announced on September 22 and bestowed during the September 25th Award Ceremony in London.

Murray Perahia's universally acclaimed recording of Bach: Partitas 2, 3 & 4 receives 10/10 review from ClassicsToday.com!

FIRST NEW STUDIO RECORDING 
IN THREE YEARS
MURRAY PERAHIA - BACH: PARTITAS 2, 3 & 4



Universal Praise for Bach: Partitas 2, 3 & 4
"No One Does it Better than Murray Perahia" 
- The San Francisco Chronicle

"Lots of performers play Bach on the modern piano. No one does it better than Murray Perahia, whose command of sonorities, dynamics and phrasing makes you hear the piano as an ideal Baroque instrument. These perfectly judged accounts of three partitas are full of persuasive insights and beguiling subtleties. In Partita No. 2, Perahia gives the Courante a thrusting momentum in advance of a patient and spacious Sarabande; his Rondeaux flexes around smartly articulated seventh intervals. The opening Fantasia in Partita No. 3 is a marvel of transparency and balance between the two hands; the Gigue gets a hypnotically heavy tread. Nothing is lovelier than the languid Allemande in Partita No. 4. Perahia just gets better and better". -  The San Francisco Chronicle

4 Stars - "The love affair between Murray Perahia and J.S. Bach continues. In the American-born pianist's first Sony-BMG recording in three years, he plays three of the six keyboard exercises that Bach described as "galanteries composed for music lovers to refresh their spirits".

As with his set of "Goldberg Variations" of eight years ago, Perahia achieves an exquisite balance between pianistic sensitivity -- enough pedal to give the sound a glow, enough rubato to make a phrase "sing"-- and disciplined attention to the Baroque form and energy of Bach's music. One might like a few more ornaments (Bach played loads), but they tend to muddy the waters on a piano. Why, one wonders, did we love Glenn Gould's dry and sometimes willfully speedy Bach interpretations of the 1950s and '60s? Because he made us listen to the music again, after decades of heavy pedal and soupy romantic interpretation. Perahia makes us hear the music again, too, by playing with warm-heartedness to lift the notes off the page and set them dancing in your mind. Listen to the fugue that ends No. 4, for example, and try to avoid smiling. Nos. 1, 5 and 6 can't be far behind". -  The News & Observer (North Carolina)

"Der amerikanische Pianist Murray Perahia hat Bachs Partiten Nr. 2, 3 und 4 ganz innig und intim eingespielt. Eine Sternstunde!" (Translation: "American pianist Murray Perahia has now recorded Bach's Partitas nos. 2, 3 and 4 in an utterly heartfelt and intimate setting. A truly great moment!") -  STERN (Germany)

5 Stars -  "This is time for rejoicing. He's back, the man dogged by bad luck. After an absence of - believe it or not - more than three years, Murray Perahia is back on the scene, and he has been in the recording studio in order to take advantage of the moment. And naturally, Perahia chose to record music by his all-time idols no. 1 and no. 2: Bach and Beethoven. The results, at least for the Bach (Beethoven is to follow later), are of a compelling intensity. Perahia plays the Partitas nos. 2 through 4, in C minor, A minor and B flat respectively, and his reading is characterised above all by a profound and sometimes solemn gravity, an almost philosophical seriousness which never triumphs, nor seeks to be chic or extravagant. Perahia proves himself to be a servant of a dual material, a twofold sense of being and existence: firstly as the servant of the composer and then as the servant of his idea. The tempos are all relatively moderate in this project: the recordings are impressive for the pianist's exquisite supplenessof delivery, his wonderful (and in the pedalling, wonderfully filigree) balance of pressure and lightness of touch (which never falls into the sphere of weightlessness, since Perahia presumably is too afraid of going down that route). Uninsistently insistent, Perahia is always aware of the nuances, especially in the slow movements, the sarabandes and allemandes. And what a skilled diversity Perahia demonstrates in his interpretation, what spectrum of tonal shades, all masterfully evident in the longest allemande in Bach's piano oeuvre, the piece from the D major Partita. Here too, we learn what a great story-teller Perahia is, the diverse range of his playing. This recording, like many others, is a joy to listen to". (Translated from the French) - Rondo 

Please click the track name to listen to a sample from Murray Perahia's new recording of Bach: Partitas 2, 3 & 4.

Bach: Partitas 2, 3 & 4 
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826
1. I. Sinfonia
2. II. Allemande
3. III. Courante
4. IV. Sarabande
5. V. Rondeau
6. VI. Capriccio

Partita No. 3 in A minor, BWV 826
7. I. Fantasia
8. II. Allemande
9. III. Courante
10. IV. Sarabande
11. V. Burlesca
12. VI. Scherzo
13. VII. Gigue

Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828
14. I. Ouverture
15. II. Allemande
16. III. Courante
17. IV. Aria
18. V. Sarabande
19. VI. Menuett
20. VII. Gigue

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Click here to watch Mr. Perahia speak about his new recording of Bach: Partitas 2, 3 & 4

 Pianist Murray Perahia performs J.S. Bach's Keyboard Partitas Nos. 2, 3 & 4 on his first new studio recording in three years. One of the greatest living Bach interpreters, Perahia's longtime affinity for the music of Bach is reflected in his discography, which features critically acclaimed performances of the solo Keyboard Concerti, the Goldberg Variations and English Suites, among other works. These previous Bach recordings have garnered a Grammy Award, several Grammy nominations, a Gramophone Award fro Best Instrumental Recording and Top 10 Billboard Classical Chart positions.

Recent performance reviews of Perahia's Bach interpretations have praised the artist's "great intellect and truly superb technique," (Chicago Sun Times and "majestic and aristocratic," performance (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). As John von Rhein wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "one of our foremost exponents of J.S. Bach on the modern piano, Perahia revealed the humanity behind the formal rigor of the stylized Baroque dances that make up Partita No. 4 in D Major".

Excerpted from the liner notes, written by Julian Haylock:
The six Partitas or "six large suites with preludes", as they were originally described, were the first works the then forty year-old Bach published, giving them the proud designation "Opus 1". They appeared at the rate of one a year between 1725 and 1730, and were collected together in 1731 to form a single volume, to which he gave the title Clavier-Übung (literally Keyboard Practice). Bach went on to produce another three volumes of Clavier-Übungen, consisting of the Italian Concerto and Overture in the French Style, a set of mainly liturgical organ music and the Goldberg Variations respectively. The incomplete Art of Fugue would have formed volume five.

Partita No. 2 was published on 19 September 1727 and opens in grand style with imposing dotted rhythms familiar from the French overture as practiced by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). Following this arresting call-to-arms, Bach proceeds with a two-part fugue of indomitable emotional thrust. Two-part counterpoint also forms the basis of the decidedly un-dance-like Allemande and Sarabande, although the latter retains its propensity for gently emphasizing the second beat of the bar. The Courante is more traditional in outline, although typically Bach can't resist inverting the main theme at the double bar. His imagination gains in virtuosic exuberance throughout the Rondeau with its downward leaps of a seventh, and the Capriccio's upward tenths in three-part counterpoint.

The Third Partita is one of the earliest of the set; it originally appeared, alongside No. 6, in the Klavierbüchlein of 1725, which Bach wrote specifically for his wife, Anna Magdalena. If in the Second Partita Bach contrasts passages of strict counterpoint with elements of free fantasia, here he creates emotional diversity by alternating the character of each succeeding movement. Following the opening "Fantasia! (whose contrapuntal precision belies the title), the poised Allemande and Sarabande are dramatically offset by the rather brusque-natured Courante and Burlesca. The robust Scherzo, a last-minute addition to the 1727 printed revision, is counterpoised by the Gigue's fugal inexorability.

While in the Second Partita, Bach subtly rethinks the generic template of the French overture, the Fourth (published in 1728 and arguably the grandest of the set) conforms more exactly to the model established in his orchestral suites, with its stately introduction characterized by dotted rhythms, followed by a fugal Allegro in triple time (in this case 9/8). To the expected Allemande and Sarabande, both disarmingly simple - the former amongst the most extended examples of its kind), Courante and Gigue (the latter announces two themes in succession and then ingeniously combines them), Bach adds an aria in the Italian style, as well as a Menuett with a touch of the French galant.

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