Any of youse shmart enough to recommend a recording of Bach's Partitas for Harpsichord?

I think the version I have on cassette (which I did not tape off the radio, but rather borrowed from someone--not sure why I said that) is the Christiane Jaccottet version. Sounds awfully close anyway. It's been a while since I've listened to that tape, but I'm listening to the Jaccottet version now and it seems extremely close.

This almost has to be it, because I'm not sitting here shaking my head thinking, no no, that's now how the partitas go.

Really fucking annoying thread title. No wonder it only got one response.

This is definitely it, and a completely awesome recording.

This Jaccottet version has a more bittersweet quality than any other versions I've heard, I'd say.

I like Trevor Pinnock, but I'm hardly an authority on the topic.

"Of the harpsichord sets I currently have, I prefer them in this sequence: Parmentier (multi-dimensional), Jaccottet (so warm and flexible!), Leonhardt (omits too many repeats, and a dry interpretation), Kirkpatrick (rough), Verlet (on Philips...too restless), Pinnock (yawn)."

Bradley Lehman, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV825-830-Gen2.htm

I find Pinnock boring in almost anything fwiw

I have Parmentier's recording of the Partitas, because I had seen him recommended very enthusiastically elsewhere. I like it, but I prefer Jaccottet. It's interesting that someone somewhere complains about the sound quality of the Jaccottet recording and also speculates maybe it's the instrument she uses--because I actually like the sound of it. (I can see how the audio might be a bit low-end, but I'm not much of an audiophile, and the fact is, I enjoyed this recording on a tape-to-tape copy, with some minor flaws caused by the cassette medium, on top of whatever weaknesses there were in the original audio quality.)

Someone's description on that discussion of Jaccottet as "somehow distant and uninvolving" is way off-base to me, especially the "uninvolving." I am not coming up with what I want to say about "distance" but I think a certain amount of distance and reserve is appropriate in this music, and "distance" isn't inherently unemotional.

Excuse the comparison, but it reminds me of people who think that the Fripp & Eno collaborations are "too cerebral." (Actually, I shouldn't apologize, since I think that stuff is amazing, but I feel apologetic venturing onto classical turf, since I am so un-tuned-in to classical music.)

Note: the Verlet recording I heard was the "old one" on Philips.

Jaccottet's Bach recordings are a weird thing because they have always been available for next to nothing on a dozen different El Cheapo labels, the same labels that sometimes don't even list a performer (or list a non-existent performer LOL Alfred Scholz) so ppl assume Jaccotet's jsb must be more of the same ill-recorded lumpy garbage while in fact they are world-class performances. At least with regard to the Well-Tempered Clavier, where I STILL haven't found a version I like more than hers after a decade of comparisons. I haven't heard her Partitas.

BTW I'll bet Igor Kipnis is great in these.

I noticed (after looking around online a bit, or just in Spotify for that matter) that her releases are as you describe, usually with covers that are so generic they would tend to put me off. (Incidentally, her Well Tempered Clavier on Spotify has some pretty severe audio glitches in it, as if they were ripped from a dying CD.)

I know there's quite a bit of competition when it comes to the Goldberg Variations, but I love her rendering, which I am just getting to tonight.

Suddenly getting back into Bach is an unexpected grace. So maybe I'll back-slide later, it's still very filling tonight.

Any Amazon links or whatever for nice, cheap Jaccottet?

First we should ask Rudipherous what label's version is all glitchy on Spotify so you know which one to avoid.

The glitchy Well Tempered Clavier is a "Denon Essential." This is the partitas recording I've been talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/J-S-Bach-Harpsichord-Partitas-Overture/dp/B0030GD3YQ

It looks like it's download only at this point.

This is her Goldberg Variations I was listening to on Spotify last night:

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Goldberg-Variations-BWV-988/dp/B004U7EU8W/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_1

Hmm looks like her WTC runs about 8 to 9 bucks per Book on Amazon Mp3. There is also something on there from the 'X5' label that offers her WTC, Goldbergs, Partitas, Inventions and Sinfonias, a selection of French and English Suites and the Concertos for 18.99. I bought one of these X5 mp3 bundles before(the Villa-Lobos one) and one track was glitched.

There used to be bins full of those gray cover Pilz CDs for a dollar, that's where I got her WTC. Here's a complete WTC on CD used for 4 bucks:

http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Well-tempered-Piano-Complete-Import/dp/B00076IMNO/ref=sr_1_52?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1331654073&sr=1-52