At first glance this release seems to be Hänssler’s budget price alternative (minus two works) to its identical full price Bach piano program with Evgeni Koroliov (see my review by typing Q1633 in Search Reviews). As it happens, Christopher Czaja Sager’s sensitive, conscientious Bach playing offers fewer artistic rewards. For example, his foursquare phrasing and plodding tempos for the Italian Concerto’s outer movements convey none of the music’s joy and vitality. In the slow movement, Sager’s eloquently spun cantalina takes center stage, reducing the left hand accompaniment to gelatin. The music gains noticeable tension and release when pianists like Koroliov, Angela Hewitt, or Glenn Gould project the left hand in strict time, thereby providing a bedrock frame of reference from which the right hand melody can soar.
Sager’s soft-grained, dynamically restricted approach throughout the B minor French Overture downplays each movement’s dance-like character, save for the Bourrées and the Gigue. The Echo’s rapid piano and forte contrasts are handled in a stiff, effortful manner. Some listeners might find Sager’s traversals of the Four Duets, with their tapered lines and nicely varied articulation, a gentler alternative to Hewitt’s more boldly profiled versions. Whether that’s worth the price of this disc is for you to decide. The reference versions mentioned above, however, remain priceless.
