[jegreenwood]

For a marvelous "recent" recording.....

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Just to indicate how much personal taste enters into the matter, I attended a recital where she performed all six. I left before the end. On the other hand, I loved her performance of the Dvorak Cello Concerto (in concert with the NY Phil).

I only have a few, but I like Starker (Mercury), Fournier and Bylsma.

 

[jegreenwood]

He says


In this recording I consciously have skipped the repeats in order to preserve the clarity of the form and wishing to embrace the entire cycle of the Suites as one great story.

The form he’s talking about isn’t a form within a movement, neither is it the form of a whole suite. It’s the unspecified form of the set of six suites, which he thinks makes one single story - a complex and contentious claim he asserts with no justification.

Is it really one story? And if yes, how does playing the repeats make that less clear?

I don’t think any “justification” is necessary beyond the fact that he hears them that way. It’s an interpretation. If you don’t like it, that’s fine - move on.

By the way, Tetzlaff has said roughly the same thing about the Sonatas and Partitas. I saw him perform all six in a same-day, two-part recital and I can understand what he means.