| Mike Flemmer said:
My rating (on a scale from 1 to 10):
Piano performance:10+
Cello performance: 9
Audio............: 9
A very delightful recording. Highly recommended. This duo creates many serenely beautiful moments of quiet contemplation and peaceful fulfillment, wonderfully evoked from Bach's music. The audio is excellent, with a front row perspective.
Maisky on cello is beautifuly refrained. Maisky excells at the long legato phrases. If you like the quiet, refined style, this is for you. If you're looking for profound technical feats from a cello, look elsewhere. This is the composed, esthetic cello. The only thing I would like to hear more of from the cello is a sharper staccato in the phrasing during faster moments. There is nothing wrong with Maisky's staccato- I just prefer and like extra sharp, crisp staccatos.
Martha is at the top of her form throughout the whole album. Masterful and beautiful Bach piano work from this world-renown, high caliber artist. And of course, the music for the piano is equal in importance to the cello, as usual from Bach.
There is a remarkable highlight on this album- Sonata No2 in D. Maisky is fine on cello, but the magic here comes from Martha. During one of Bach's arpeggio cadenza type passages (in the Allegro, 4th movement), Martha creates one of the most mesmerizingly beautiful sounds that a piano has ever produced. It's a staccato passage of hypnotic beauty, from another world. Those who love Bach on piano- this is not to be missed. | 
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