John Lewis playing Bach

[six string]

Can anyone comment on John Lewis's recordings of Bach's piano music? I believe there are three volumes and they are a little pricey, though I would buy any of them if I knew a little more about them. I have Keith Jarrett's Handel recording and love it. It's hard to imagine John Lewis not doing a fantastic job on these.

Any info much appreciated.

[T.D.]

Bumping this up...I'm a Bach pianophile, and am also curious.

[gmonahan]

Bumping this up...I'm a Bach pianophile, and am also curious.

The only Bach I've ever heard Lewis play is on the "last" MJQ studio album, "Blues on Bach." It's their *most* classical album, with some nice improvising around the themes, though it's even more buttoned down than their other albums.

[mikeweil]

IIRC he recorded all of the Well-Tempered Clavier, but I never bought it and it's too long ago that I had a cursory listen in the shop to recall what I thought it was like. Sorry ..... only thing I remember is that he took more liberties than Jarrett in his Handel or Bach recitals.

[T.D.]

Yes, I know of 3 volumes from the WTC, didn't know whether he covered the whole thing. From what I've read, I can't tell whether he plays the P&F "straight", or improvises to some extent. Also don't know if all the recordings are solo, or some are with a small group.

Lewis also has other Bach (or Bach-based?) recordings; Chess Game and Bridge Game get mentioned, but I haven't heard them either.

One frequent piano-related poster on rec.music.classical.recordings (Koren) is a big fan of Lewis's playing, but he seems like somewhat of a crackpot (even by the standards of that sociopathic forum... ).

[AllenLowe]

its ok but not as good as Kenny G playing the Nielsen concerto; or Larry Carlton Plays Segovia -