Bach to Bach: How does pianist Sonya fare with her namesake JS?

Korean pianist Sonya Bach has a name that might be either to die for or to dread when it comes to playing Bach.

Her recordings of six of the composer’s keyboard concertos (BWV1052-6 and BWV1058) plus the Italian Concerto for solo keyboard, show a confident, tonally agreeable player who steers a musically well-bred course through all seven works, though she sounds a little stiffer on her own than when working with orchestra.

The interpretative approach is self-consciously neutral, although this sometimes comes across as easy listening rather than judicious reserve. It’s the fleet-fingered brio of the concertos’ fast movements that sounds best.

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