I hope your summer has been wonderful, and that you had a great July. In my last newsletter, I included one of my scores from my An American Calendar collection: “Yankee Doodle Lost His Way”, and some playlists perfect for warm weather and sunshine. So make sure you’ve joined so you don’t miss the next one!
I also want to thank all of you have so graciously supported my new recording of the J.S. Bach Partitas, and to share some of the reviews that have come in.
“If I had to describe these performances in a single word, that word would be “affectionate.” Bindman clearly loves this music, and she plays it caressingly, as a lover would. … I’d like to point to the aforementioned Sarabande from Partita No. 3, which, under Bindman’s fingers, becomes an absolutely hypnotizing and eloquently grave meditation on the expressive power of 16th-note triplets. This is why we listen to new recordings of music we love—to shine a light on it of which we had not previously been aware.… This release excited my admiration from the moment I started playing it, and that attention has not waned over the course of more than a week. This could be on my Want List at the end of the year.” —Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare Magazine
“Eleonor Bindman’s strong and assertive fingerwork complements her firmly centred rhythm… a subtle momentum informs Bindman’s gravitas, while a rapt concentration always comes through in her spacious Sarabandes. One must also acknowledge the slow yet intimately unfolding conversational lightness in the G major Partita’s Allemande” —Jed Distler, Gramophone
“Bindman’s approach, very sensibly, is to let this amazing music speak for itself. Opting for unhurried tempi, she approaches the dance movements with poise, her playing throughout the cycle an object lesson in perfectly balanced voicing and articulation. …In my review of her last Bach recording I hailed Bindman as delivering, ‘Bach playing of the highest order.’ With these model interpretations she does so again here… these intimately recorded and musically convincing performances strike just the right balance between familiarity and revelation. A superb release.” —Andrew Eales, PianoDao
“Listening to the recording, I was immediately impressed by Bindman’s relaxed tempos, and the unhurried pace of her interpretation… In Bindman’s recording, ornamentations become what they should be, an emotional emphasis of the moment. And that is certainly the case in her creative treatment of repeats, when the first sounding is simplified while the repeat presents the richly embellished original.” —Hermione Lai, Interlude
“Eleonor Bindman continues to impress with every new display of her keyboard artistry. …her complete survey of the Bach Partitas, BWV 825-830, proves the clincher: [she] can do anything! …Bach’s keyboard fingerings, difficult to master on the modern piano, hold no mystery for Bindman. It is a measure of this artist’s combined scholarship and keyboard prowess that we can’t tell where the composer leaves off and the performing artist takes over. Really, this is as fine a survey of the Partitas as I’ve ever been privileged to hear. I am pleased to recommend it.” —Phil Muse, Atlanta Audio Club
Playlists
