Alfred Brendel Collection Vol. 1: Bach (1977)

"In place of customary analytical notes, the booklet here is given over to an absorbing interview with Brendel about playing Bach on the piano (something he did not do in recitals for a number of years), and it explains why throughout the record there is no attempt to don a periwig or emulate the crisper sonority of a harpsichord. This remastered CD brings a full-size grand piano with sustaining pedals right to your fire-side. The only times when the instrument does not sound like a piano is when Brendel somehow manages to suggest an organ, as in the registration of the two deeply expressive, beautifully-paced choral preludes, and even more in the A minor Prelude, BWV922, where generous pedalling at the start conjures up the reverberation of a very resonant church." (Gramophone, 1982)