Zhu Xiao-Mei’s recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 follows her 2008 Book 2 release. The pianist’s warm sonority and genuine affinity for the music are never in doubt, although a few old habits crop up, such as her tendency to let her lighter, faster, and most characterful playing become slightly heavier and slower as a piece progresses (the G major and A major Fugues)–or, conversely, to get faster (the C-sharp minor and B minor Fugues). There’s an occasional forced quality to her emphatic accents and cadential ritards, while certain lyrical pieces like the D-sharp minor and B-flat minor Preludes and Fugues are more about pretty mood painting than delicate linear interaction.
However, the C minor, C-sharp minor, and F major works are ideally clear and crisp, and the pianist spices up the D major Fugue’s dotted rhythms by elongating them by a nanosecond. Maybe I’m hallucinating, but does Zhu sometimes “swing” the C major Prelude’s 16th notes rather than play them evenly? Not that I mind! In addition, Zhu’s improvisatory ebb-and-flow works to convincing cumulative effect in the E-flat Prelude. Reservations aside, there’s much to savor in Zhu’s Bach, and Mirare provides excellent engineering.
