Gramophone Magazine
February 2021
Editor's Choice

Piotr Anderszewski (piano)

Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 1 in C major, BWV870
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 12 in F minor, BWV881
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 17 in B-flat major, BWV886
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 8, BWV877
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 11 in F major, BWV880
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 22 B flat Minor, BWV891
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 7, BWV876
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 16 in G minor, BWV885
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 9 in E major, BWV878
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 18, BWV887
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 23 in B major, BWV892
Bach, J S: Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No. 24, BWV893

Piotr Anderszewski takes a characteristically creative approach to Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-tempered Clavier). Rather than recording all 48 of its prelude-and-fugue pairings, he has focused on 12 pairings from Book Two. “I decided to put the pieces together in a sequence of my own subjective choosing, based sometimes on key relationships, at other times on contrasts. The idea behind this specific order is to create a sense of drama that suggests a cycle: 12 characters conversing with one another, mirroring each other.” Anderszewski’s last Erato album of Bach prompted BBC Music Magazine to write: “For anyone who loves Bach (or the piano) … this life-enhancing disc is required listening.