Aspiring piano students slaving over these preludes and fugues will find a viable role model in the prolific Jenö Jandó. His no-nonsense, direct approach is a sonically upgraded antidote to Friedrich Gulda's si... more »milarly conceived but dryly recorded versions on Philips. Ornaments are well considered, and tempos fit into a Goldilocks range of not too fast, not too slow, but just right. What's missing, though, is a feeling for rhythmic transparency, for the way Bach's phrases reach over the barline. This has more to do with inner musicality than stylistic niceties. For this reason it's worth the time and money to seek out Sviatoslav Richter or, best of all, the unknown but unsurpassed Samuel Feinberg. --Jed Distler« less
Aspiring piano students slaving over these preludes and fugues will find a viable role model in the prolific Jenö Jandó. His no-nonsense, direct approach is a sonically upgraded antidote to Friedrich Gulda's similarly conceived but dryly recorded versions on Philips. Ornaments are well considered, and tempos fit into a Goldilocks range of not too fast, not too slow, but just right. What's missing, though, is a feeling for rhythmic transparency, for the way Bach's phrases reach over the barline. This has more to do with inner musicality than stylistic niceties. For this reason it's worth the time and money to seek out Sviatoslav Richter or, best of all, the unknown but unsurpassed Samuel Feinberg. --Jed Distler
"I give this CD a review of five stars even though I do not believe that it is the be-all, end-all recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier. The reason is that I believe that other individuals giving it a review of 1 star simply on account of Jando's humming is absurd. I am personally almost unaware of the humming (I guess that I'm not oversensitive enough), and find the performances here to be ones that take advantage of the piano as it did not exist in Bach's time, while still being quite respectful to Bach's music. Although there are huge extremes of tempo, they do not exist within individual movements, and Jando does not pull a Pogorelich by using an amount of rubato that is inappropriate for Bach's music.He takes advantage of the dynamic capabilities of the piano, as Bach's own writing undoubtedly would have had he lived 70 years later. Even Book 2 itself of the Well-Tempered Clavier includes dynamic markings, but in any case, I'm not here solely to defend the performance of Bach on a piano that is made to sound like a harpsichord.Perhaps most importantly, Jando's renderings of the fugues are very lucid. Cautious individuals should be glad to know that he does not improvise hummed additional voices in the fugues, and they are not performed with so many liberties as to muddle their textures.Overall, this set manages to let the performances be of Bach's music rather than of Jando's own version of Bach's music, while still showing his unique personality (and not just through the humming!). Some people may find Jando's playing to generally not be 'characterful' enough, but they must be shockingly bored with Bach's music if they demand a great deal of 'character' over a very truthful interpretation such as this one, where Bach's genius is allowed to shine through with just a bit of modernizing romanticism."
First class performance and sound, bargain price.
kek5 | 03/08/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am listening to this two-CD set while writing, and I will just offer these two adjectives: serene and magisterial. Mr. Jando's playing makes one believe Bach had intended these to be played on a modern piano. At this bargain price, you MUST purchase it RIGHT NOW, as versions that cost three times as much can't hold a candle to it. First-class sound quality too.You might also check out other performances by Jeno Jando on the Naxos label, particularly his Beethoven sonata cycle. Naxos is a bargain label, but these performances are also (I repeat myself) worth three times the cost."
Pretty Darn Good
kek5 | Westerville, Ohio USA | 03/21/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I really didn't notice the humming other reviewers complain of, and it certainly hasn't lessened my enjoyment of this disc. Jando's Bach is straightforward and selfless, which is the way I like my Bach. If the performance isn't quite up to Jando's Book II, well it is more a measure of the excellence of than performance. As for the liner notes, Naxos actually does better than a number of the "name" labels (Sony Essential Classics and EMI Seraphim to name just two), and multilingual translations are by no means a Naxos novelty. As for Jeno Jando's star...well, he has critcally acclaimed cycles of Beethoveen's sonatas, Haydn's sonatas, Mozart's piano concertos and various Lizst works. His "Pictures At An Exhibition" made BBC Musics Top 1000 Classic CDs list, and he has servicable if not excellent versions of Mozart and Schubert sonatas and other works under his belt also. At this time Naxos is the best selling classical label in the U.K., and with very good reason. On average their discs offer performances on a par with those of their full price competitors. And Jano? He was their first superstar, and he remains one of the most respected pianists recording today. There are those of us quite happy with Naxos...it allows us to collect excellent performances of classic music at about one-third the cost of labels such as DG, Chandos and many others. While I will grant that Gould, Hewitt and others may deliver on a higher level, that excellence does come at a stiff premium when compared to what Naxos charges for Jando."
Hmmm...
T. Hodgson | Allen Park, MI | 03/16/2000
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I actually like Jando's playing slighly better than Schiff's. The difference is, Schiff manages to keep his mouth shut while he performs. Jando comes from the Glenn Gould school of "humming along while playing," which results in an infuriating listening experience (and, forces me to subtract three stars). I bought this CD to hear what Bach has to say, not Jando. If you can tolerate the humming, you'll enjoy Jando's refreshing style and capable playing. Otherwise, stay away. Pipe down, Jeno! Your playing speaks for itself."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
