Murray Perahia's new recording on Sony Classical displays the pianist's careful and deeply intelligent approach to the keyboard. Taking all repeats and avoiding the extroverted, almost maniacal approach that made eccentric Candian pianist Glenn Gould so famous, Perahia is still able to capture our attention with his wonderful tone. The only downside is that some of his embellishments during repeats sound a bit rehearsed. One sometimes wants to hear more of a free approach, especially in the sections where inegal playing is necessary to the style of the variation. However, Perahia has obviously studied the score with great attention to detail, as his treatment of inner voices and his sense of direction in the fundamental bass clearly show. If you don't want to go with the extremes of a dionysian Gould (1955) or a puritan Rosalyn Tureck (1999), this is the recording to get. A- -Anthony Cheung