in Piano International (Sep, 2017)
Coming directly into competition with Murray Perahia’s recent two-CD DG recording of the French Suites, Vladimir Ashkenazy offers all six Suites on one super-long disc. This is the one advantage of this account.
Ashkenazy begins as he means to go on: there is little sense of magic to the Allemande of the Suite No 1; similarly, his rather harsh way with the Courante coupled with his characteristically brittle tone does the music no favours. The Sarabande fares much better, interior and considered; but while Ashkenazy obviously aims to accord the Gigue dignity, it merely sounds fractured. While the Allemande of the Suite in C minor bodes well, the ensuing Courante is …
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