My ideal Bach CD would be a choice of performances by Edwin Fischer.

The "Fantasia (Prelude)" in A minor shows Bach as the improviser: you never know where it will go. The slow movement of the "F-minor Concerto" features Bach as the cantabile composer. And a selection of Preludes and Fugues from the "Well-Temepered Clavier" (particularly from the second half of Book I) shows the contrapuntal master.

Fischer's playing has a timeless quality. There are no idiosyncrasies of a "historical" or fashionable kind. But there is abundant imagination blended with poise; there is warmth, superlative beauty of
sound and the most effortless control of polyphony. No piano playing is more sincere and more moving.

Do I miss the harpsichord? Not a lot.

... read next