PIANO MAGAZINE:
Thank goodness the bad old days are over when it seemed politically incorrect to play Bach on the piano. A very special disc... Katharine Durran's name was as unfamiliar to me as her playing, but on the evidence of her recent disc of the complete Toccatas she's a Bachian of luminous integrity and unforced nobility, who captures his capriciousness and occasional obsessiveness with equal insight.
Daniel Stearns

MUSEY ROOM:
Katharine Durran belongs to a modern tradition of piano playing in which virtuosity and emotional involvement are combined with careful attention to musical form and style. Her approach is not overtly retrospective, but she manages to combine a sense of historical awareness and clarity with real musicality and panache, leaving one with a feeling that they are being performed for the present... She gives the impression throughout of having absorbed the music completely, and her obvious affinity for the works and her intellectual mastery of their structure produce superb performances, characterised by clarity, style, and responsiveness. Her unforced, natural artistry and dynamic pianism place this performance in the first rank, and listening enjoyment is further enhanced by clever programming. At first I wondered why she hadn't used the two major pieces to split up the five in minor keys, but that was before I'd played the CD, and it all made perfect sense when I heard it. The CD opens with the brooding D minor piece, and at the end the wonderful D major toccata refreshes our spirits before the pianist leaves in a blaze of glory in a stunning final section of great vivacity.

I was struck with this recording, unlike some other modern Bach performances, by how atmospheric the music could be. There is no trace of sentimentality or excessive use of colour, and yet the atmosphere evoked by, for example, the opening section of the G minor piece is standard setting. Subtle shading is used throughout to enhance the musical feel of the piece; moreover, one gets the feeling that the artist is conveying the musical delight and - for the want of a better term - the musical potential energy of the work. Control and sage tempi characterise her performance of the touching F sharp minor Toccata; the clarity and careful shaping of the fugal section of this piece is particularly impressive, but again, erudition and technique are deployed in a highly enjoyable manner. The more emotionally negative C minor is given a sympathetic and wonderfully stylish performance, the slow opening section sounding tearful and genuine, while the bitter-sweet characteristics of the final polyphonic section are communicated beautifully. The two major pieces are a delight; they are immediately likable, and Katharine Durran's performance of the final piece on the disc, the D major, in nothing short of inspirational. Its jubilant and infectious opening section, full of witty ornamentation and chord changes, leads on to a characteristically introspective inner section, and finally to a vivacious final 'hunting' movement, in which some stunning piano playing is on display. I suppose it's a bit superficial compared to the others, but nonetheless hugely enjoyable!

All in all, this is a wonderful disc, introducing a Bach pianist of rare insight and musicality. A recording of the Goldberg variations is planned, and if you've heard this, you'll almost certainly be looking forward to hearing that. The recording, made at St. George's, Bristol, is superbly engineered to audiophile standards.
unnamed reviewer