Bach’s 6 Partitas were the first Opus he published, even though he'd already completed the French and English Suites before he started work on these, and it’s not hard to see why. Collectively they’re just some of the most beautiful music ever produced for the keyboard. Each has a distinct character: and this first Partita in Bb is dominated by a kind of serene joy. The structure is that of the standard Baroque dance suite: a characterful opening movement, followed by an allemande, corrente, sarabande, and a show-stopping gigue, with some miscellaneous dances inserted before the gigue. It’s also worth noting two motifs that bind this suite together: nearly all the movements have melodies built from a broken Bb chord, and the motif of a melody rising through the interval of a fourth also features heavily. Blechacz has a clean, unfussy style, with wonderfully transparent lines, a preference for a lightly detached touch, and spare use of the pedal. The tempi are generally on the brisk side – the concluding Gigue is especially fleet, with the accompaniment fluttering (sometimes almost inaudibly) in the background as the melody takes those famous hand-crossing leaps. The Sarabande is also especially nice, with a confiding, intimate sound. (The first repeat in the Menuet 2, it's worth noting, is taken an octave higher.) Anderszewski is an arch-perfectionist in the style of Zimerman, sometimes to the point of delicious perversity (I say this in the most positive sense). Comparing his Gigue with Blechacz’s gives you a sense of the wonders he can work in apparently familiar pieces: his sound is more full-blooded, and he gives this small showpiece an incredible dramatic arc: the new colour at 33:59, with perfect use of the pedal, and then the fierceness of the repeat which comes right after, and then the tongue-in-cheek ending. The Allemande similarly benefits from careful melodic shaping and subtle variances in articulation (as well as nice ornaments on the repeats, for what it’s worth). The Corrente is strangely moving, mostly on account of Anderszewski’s rhythmic suppleness and phrasing. The return of Menuet 1 at 32:25 is taken an octave higher and with staccato articulation – a coloristic shift that’s hard not to smile at. Both repeats of the preceding Menuet 2 are also an octave higher. Blechacz: 00:00 – 1. Praeludium 01:47 – 2. Allemande 04:07 – 3. Corrente 06:28 – 4. Sarabande 11:12 – 5. Menuet 1 12:28 – 6. Menuet 2 13:51 – 7. Gigue Anderszewski: 15:37 – 1. Praeludium 17:50 – 2. Allemande 21:01 – 3. Corrente 23:54 – 4. Sarabande 30:08 – 5. Menuet 1 31:33 – 6. Menuet 2 33:11 – 7. Gigue