Harpsichordist and musicologist Rebecca Pechefsky enjoyed her finest hour on the Quill Classics release Bach and his Circle. Quill is a relative newcomer to the pantheon of classical labels, and this, their sixth release, seems to have worked out the bugs and growing pains of earlier releases -- these recordings are clear, warm, and there is no stray background noise. This provides Pechefsky with the platform she needs to demonstrate her ability to its potential, which is to a phenomenal extent; the sheer excitement and enthusiasm that Pechefsky brings to her interpretation of Johann Ludwig Krebs never-before-recorded Partita in A minor is enough to lift you out of your seat. This particular Krebs partita will impress many ears expert in early eighteenth century German keyboard music through its energy and intensity, and Pechefsky seems the ideal advocate for its maiden voyage on record.
Pechefsky is one harpsichord player who understands that the instrument's projection of rhythm is an attribute of the instrument that sets it apart from the piano. One literally hears the tapping on the fingerboard in Walther's uncharacteristically dance-like Fugue in F major, and yet Pechefsky is still able to raise one's eyebrows with the melodic arc that opens Walther's chorale setting of Wachet auf. Pechefsky's Bach Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue is excellent, with the expanding figures in the fantasy fanning out with a sense of graceful motion in the manner of waves breaking against the shore, yet still imbued with the intensity and darkness that attracts many pianists to this music. The only work not quite up to the standard of the rest is the Suite in C minor of Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch. Although the name of this mega-obscure composer might remind one of a place where a student afflicted with nausea from strong drink might go for a little relief, sobriety is the hallmark of Hurlebusch's six-movement suite, which is probably written at a level a bit below the composer's own ability. Nonetheless, it makes for fascinating filler, and as a whole Bach and his Circle is far more interesting and entertaining than many period keyboard recitals of its kind.
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