Pieter Wispelwey gives an incredible performance of the last movement of Bach's final cello suite. Listen for his treatment of the traditional "gigue" dance, landing on key notes and teasing the quicker runs as they inevitably lead to their harmonic destination.
Listen for the way Wispelwey snaps out the quick five-note passages in this movement. Also take note of his control leading the less significant notes towards the significant notes and the opposite. Consider the pacing of this work when comparing it to it's recomposed counterpart.
Listen for the sweetness of Wispelwey's interpretation of Bach. It is not without it's thorns, but this is as melodic as it gets in Baroque music. See if you can catch the lingering long tones held beneath certain melodies.
One of his greatest and most simple works, Philip Glass' Etude No. 2 for solo piano is as gorgeous as it is interesting. Listen for the extreme range in register used on the keyboard and the echoing melodies surrounding the mid-range of the piano. Enjoy Olaffsson's masterful pacing and use of dynamics, listen until the end for one of the great slow burns in piano composition.
Reworked for string quartet and piano, Vikingur Olaffsson and the Siggi Quartet render Glass' etude to a placid lake, ebbing to each change of texture. The composition embelishes on Glass' work enough to produce new melodies leading one chord to the next. Enjoy the angular quality of the piano and the warmth of the strings.
Bach's sarabande is set in slow motion, with an instrumentation similar to Beethoven's string quartets, with a hovering soprano voice floating above a baritone melody on a bed of warm accompanying chords. Pay attention to the way Gregson uses time, similar to Wispelwey's manipulations of the bar in Bach's original composition.
The dance of Bach's bouree is slowed down to a beautiful, song-like melody. Listen for the slow harmonic outline played by an ensemble of cellos below the continous expanded opening five notes of the original bouree.
Listen for the texture of 5 cellists, rythmic articulation, and a repeating ostinato, slowly building until the climax to the end. If you listen closely, you can hear Gregson's fingers slamming onto the board of his cello, enhancing the rythmic soul of this movement.