J.S. Bach: English Suites Nos. 1, 3 & 5, Piotr Anderszewski, piano

Piotr Anderszewski first recorded Bach’s English Suites more than ten years ago for Harmonia Mundi. Now, Warner Classics have afforded him the opportunity to re-record them.

What the critics said

Anderszewski’s concert performances of this repertoire in the years leading up to the recording drew consistent, pointed praise from major critics. After his 2013 Carnegie Hall recital, the New York Times wrote that “he revels in the full range of timbres afforded by the modern piano and often uses the sustaining pedal to allow notes to pool together like watercolors… Any pianist can bring out the playfulness of the second Gavotte in the English Suite No. 3, but Mr. Anderszewski added a layer of hushed melancholy that suggested the playfulness of one accustomed to being alone.”

Writing after his spring 2013 concert at London’s Southbank Centre, The Guardian called it “some of the most sublime piano playing London has witnessed all season,” adding that “his physical relationship with the piano… yields a control over tone and structure, touch and phrasing, which few pianists can equal.” Reviewing his first, 2002 recording of Suites 1, 3 and 6 for Virgin Classics, The Sunday Times had already spoken of “Bach playing of the highest order,” praising playing that “removes these works far from the realms of technical exercises.”

Anderszewski on playing Bach at the piano

Anderszewski has been candid about the interpretive question a modern piano recording of Bach necessarily raises. “I always keep in mind that the harpsichord was the most popular keyboard instrument [in Bach’s time],” he has said. “But I would really not like to try and imitate the harpsichord, in that case, I would rather play the harpsichord! So, bearing in mind the limitations of the harpsichord, but still using the really full expression of the modern concert piano, this is the paradox. The wonderful thing is that the modern piano can suggest so many instruments. It can suggest the voice, the orchestra, even percussion instruments. It can also suggest the harpsichord. Playing Bach on the piano, it’s really all about suggestion.”

A note on this page

The original mmmusic page for this recording paired a short editorial introduction from Anne McAlister with a curated selection of real press reviews rather than a single long-form review, that structure has been preserved here, with the same real, attributed quotes.