Bach French Suite No 6 E Major Pt 2 Friskin Rec 1954

There were other pianists besides Edwin Fisher who were playing and recording Bach before Glenn Gould burst upon the scene with his celebrated 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations Two such pianists were Harold Samuel and James Friskin. Both studied with Dannreuther who was a student of Moscheles. In 1934 Friskin, who was born in Scotland in 1886, performed the complete Well-Tempered Clavier in two recitals in New York. He was a member of the original faculty at Julliard and taught there until his death in 1967. One wonders what Friskin ,who had been playing the Goldberg for over forty years, may have thought of the young twenty three year old's performance. However, I must admit a bias as one of my teachers was a Friskin student. But I think I would have admired Friskin's Bach in any case. He doesn't exaggerate or distort the music. And like Harold Samuel,he plays Bach in a way that goes to the heart of the music. Neither Samuel or Friskin were pedantic in their approach to Bach. Nor were they overly Romantic in their playing,an accusation that some of their more famous contemporaries have been accused.
Here Friskin plays the Polonaise, Bouree, Minuet and Gigue from Bach's French Suite No. 6 in E Major, BWV 817. He does not take all of the repeats due to the time restrictions of 1954 LP recordings.