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Jonathan Ferrucci's Excellent Bach English Suites · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:08
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
• 0:10
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:14
  I had taken some time off in October because
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  I had some concerts, as well as teaching some
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  masterclasses in Italy and in London. But I'm
• 0:26
  back home now, and I'm recording fresh new episodes,
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  so thank you for your patience. Although we are
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  spoiled for choice when it comes to piano recordings
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  of the six English suites by J .S. Bach, any
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  new excellent new contender, I think, would be
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  worth considering. And that includes the young,
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  or rather young -ish, Italian -Australian pianist
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  Jonathan Ferrucci. I reviewed his recordings
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  of the Bach Toccatas for Classicstoday .com,
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  and he has just come out with the six Bach English
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  Suites on the Audit label. And I should mention
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  that I recently met Jonathan in person when I
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  was in London, and he's just as thoughtful and
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  intelligent and gracious in person as he is a
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  piano player. Anyway, what I like about his recording
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  of the English Suites is that his sense of style
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  in terms of embellishments and ornaments is also
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  pianistically oriented in that Jonathan is not
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  averse to using the instrument's full range of
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  tone color and dynamics and tonal shadings, but
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  he does this all with the utmost discernment
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  and taste. The resonant sonics on this disc may
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  be a tad too resonant for my taste, but they
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  really give you an idea of what Jonathan's beautiful
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  yet clear sonority sounds like in a concert venue.
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  He does not present the English suites in numerical
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  order, as most pianists tend to do. Instead,
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  he presents on CD number one suites two, one,
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  and five in that order. And then on disc two,
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  he gives you suites three, four, and six. I think
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  this actually makes for a... better contrasted
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  running order if one wants to listen to all six
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  suites in succession, or to listen to each disc
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  on its own. There are many marvelous highlights
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  to savor throughout these performances, and I'm
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  going to mention a bunch of them. I like Jonathan's
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  crisp yet somewhat muted articulation in the
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  second suite's braids, and i also like his beautifully
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  contrasted dynamics in the first suite's prelude
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  which is followed by a very graceful allemande
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  that has a gentle yet very palpable left -hand
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  presence and the berets are just jaunty and lilting
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  that's a wonderful wonderful performance in the
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  e minor suite number five Jonathan Ferrucci brings
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  this lovely conversational character to the linear
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  exchanges between left and right hands in the
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  Allemande. And here, his embellishments on the
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  repeats are quite expressive. In fact, Jonathan
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  always embellishes repeats with both imagination
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  and subtlety. And also in this E minor suite,
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  in the Passapierre and Rondeau, I especially
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  like his refined distinctions between legato
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  and détaché phrases. It's a really, really beautiful
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  playing. You will notice that this pianist takes
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  the G minor English suite's prelude at a relatively
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  moderate and less driving clip than many pianists
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  do. You know, instead of... I mean, I can't sing
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  it, and I don't even remember the music. But
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  he takes his time with it, which allows the repeated
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  note theme and the close -lying imitative lines
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  much more room to breathe and to speak and to
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  land than usual. And as a result, the music sounds
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  much less cluttered here than it often is in
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  certain other recordings. But on the other hand,
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  the Saraband has a strong rhythmic backbone and
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  a really strong sense of inner rhythm. You know,
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  some pianists like to stretch out this music
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  as if it was like a Bruckner adagio and creating
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  this kind of timeless, new -agey kind of aura.
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  I remember, for example, Sviatoslav Richter played
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  this. in the 90s, and his performances were just
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  so drawn out. But they were very hypnotic, too.
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  But, you know, that was Richter being Richter
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  in slow tempos. Anyway, I think Jonathan's pacing
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  and his sensitivity add up to a marvelous whole
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  in this movement. Jonathan also gives an elegant
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  and really unpressured account of the F major
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  suite number four. I have to admit that the fourth
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  suite is probably my least favorite of the six.
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  But the big suite number six in D minor gets
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  a really serious and substantial performance.
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  And you notice this right from the get -go because
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  those big pedal points have a great impact in
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  the prelude's introduction. And following the
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  introduction, the music just takes... great wing
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  with a lot of variety of character and articulation.
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  And Jonathan's relaxed grace in the allemande
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  contrasts to his firmness in the courante. It's
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  firm, but it's not rigid at all by any means.
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  And this pianist's dead of center rhythm and
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  harmonically pointed articulation in the concluding
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  G makes this movement actually sound faster than
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  Jonathan actually plays it. I think maybe the
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  sixth suite constitutes Jonathan's most inspired
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  performance out of all the six English suites.
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  But, you know, in truth, his pianism and his
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  musicianship are thoroughly competitive in each
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  and every suite. alongside other piano versions
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  of the six suites. And those include recordings
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  by his mentor, Angela Hewitt, Andras Schiff,
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  Marie Pariah, and the recent recording by my
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  friend and duo piano partner, Alexandra Papastafanu.
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  So definitely check out Jonathan Ferrucci's Bach
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  English Suites on the Audit label. This is Jed
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  Disler, and you've been listening to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Thank you for listening, and thank you for your
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  patience in my absence, and I look forward to
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  being with you for our next episode very soon.