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Bach On Cruise Control

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Before auditioning Annhelena Schlüter’s recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book I, I did a Google search on her, out of curiosity. It turns out that she’s a singer/songwriter, and an improviser as well. Her pop style is pleasant though derivative, and would not be out of place in a New Age compilation or in an airport lounge, spa, or shopping mall. I mention this because Schlüter’s Bach befits such venues.

She plays the notes cleanly and proficiently, and never makes less than beautiful sounds. Her surface style is easier on the ear compared to, say, Friedrich Gulda’s hard-hitting, closely miked, in-your-face traversals. But there’s little dynamic variation beyond mezzo-piano and mezzo-forte, and none of the varied, pinpointed articulations that András Schiff, Angela Hewitt, Craig Sheppard, and Vladimir Ashkenazy employ to elucidate structure and linear shape.

The C-sharp minor Prelude is so slow that it nearly falls apart moments after it begins. The G major Prelude’s right-hand triplets transpire in a bland legato, giving the illusion that the notes are sticking together. The F minor and B major fugues unfold in square, predictable phrase groupings, as do both the B minor Prelude and Fugue at a common medium lope. In addition, Schlüter tends to let her right hand dominate in pieces where both hands ambidextrously converse, as in the F major and F-sharp major preludes.

Schlüter only reveals her true potential when she comes out of her comfort zone and switches off the proverbial cruise control button; her C major Fugue, for example, is suprisingly bouncy and detached, while the A-flat major Prelude’s brisk, lighthearted romp also defies convention. Still, as you’ve probably gathered by now, other Bach pianists dig deeper.

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Recording Details:

Reference Recording: Schiff (ECM); Hewitt (Hyperion); Koroliov (Tacet); Ashkenazy (Decca)

    Soloists: Annhelena Schlüter (piano)

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