Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book One concert. Performed 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall. Features Sir András Schiff on piano. Directed for TV by Helen Scott. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Jed Distler, a piano expert at Gramophone writes a glowing review of this (and Book 2) in the May 2020 issue at page 64. Schiff plays all 48 Prelude and Fugue groupings from memory in the vast Royal Albert Hall while observing all repeats with “creative yet stylish” artistic variations. Distler calls this the “reference video version” of this landmark music. He further states that the recording is “enhanced by Helen Scott’s intelligent video direction. Her judicious use of long dissolves, quick cutaways and close-ups complements the structure and flow of each piece, while revealing aspects of Schiff’s body language, facial expressions and fingerwork that one might not notice from a concert-hall seat.” In the 12 years we have been working on this website, this quote from Distler is the most astute comment about video content we have seen from a print critic. Now we have to audition these discs to see if we agree with Jed.
Here’s a clip from Naxos:
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