Keith Jarrett - J.S. Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Buch I (1988)

Keith Jarrett is such a fine musician that he, as a composer as well as a performer and a jazz interpreter as well as a classics interpreter, knows when to simply let the written notes be played the way they were written. His Bach is very straightforward: yes, he embellishes in keeping with the indications and musical period of Bach, but he never lets the embellishments sound as though they should call attention to the performer. Book One of the Well-Tempered Clavier is performed on the piano while Book Two is performed on the harpsichord. For this listener his piano keyboard Bach is more interesting than his Harpsichord Bach and I'm not at all certain why he elected to change instruments. But perhaps that is simply one more aspect of Jarrett's exploration of works he deems important enough to spend his concentration and time reproducing.
One of the pleasures of Jarrett's playing is his knowledge of how to bring a phrase to a close and for that matter how he prepares for the closing of a variation. It feels right, as though he has thought about Bach's ideas and incorporated them into his own manner of performing. Both of these 2CD albums are very well recorded and make a solid addition to the library: piano keyboard Bach or harpsichord keyboard Bach - both make for repeated frequent listenings. -- Grady Harp