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Edition Bachakadamie Vol.125
Violin Concertos, BWV 1041-1043
Christoph Poppen violin |
H腘SSLER Classic CD 92.125
[42:35] mid-price
by Benjamin Chee
This is a disc which, upon initial inspection, raises the question:
Why are there only the three famous Bach violin concertos in this
collection ? My question does not concern itself so much with the
admittedly small amount of music presented (more on this later), as
much as the missed opportunity to include the other violin-related
concertos for, if nothing else, the sake of completeness.
Perhaps some explanation for my concern is in order. Bach wrote a
lot of music - well over a thousand works in the BWV (Bach Work Index)
catalogue - but surprisingly only a handful of concertos based on wholly
original material for violin(s). The three works on this disc, BWV
1041 to 1043, date from his C鰐hen period (c. 1718-1723); but
there is also a later (c. 1742) D major concerto, BWV 1045 - a
surviving fragment from the Sinfonia of an unknown cantata - as well
as adaptations/reconstructions of concertos for violin(s) from other instruments, that
could have found their way into this collection.
BWV 1044, incidentally, is a triple concerto for flute, violin and
harpsichord, which makes it genetically closer, in fact, to the Brandenburg
Concertos than the orthodox violin concerto. Musicologists have
also contended that some of the concertos for harpsichord were
originally written for violin, although which ones remain the
magical question.
If we were to take the works on this disc chronologically,
then these three could be said, more so than Bach's later efforts, to
bear the influence of Le Prete Rosso, Antonio Vivaldi. The "Red
Priest" was himself also just as prolific as Bach, if not more: 250
violin concertos, 30 double violin concertos, as well as various other
40 Concerti con molti instrumenti with a violino
principale part. Interestingly, H鋘ssler have even reproduced
a portrait of Vivaldi in the sleeve booklet.
The differences between these two composers, compositional styles
and musical inventiveness aside, lies in their technical approach to
the concerto form. Where Vivaldi relied heavily on interplay between
concertante "versus" ripieno, Bach was already striving
to achieve the standard in which the solo instrument - here the violin
- was primus inter pares, or first among equals.
Certainly, there is some of this ideal on these performances. Both
single-instrument concertos start off very briskly, with a
blue-blooded rendition of the solo part from Christoph Poppen, nobly
supported by the Stuttgart musicians, that breathes new life into
these sometimes hackneyed works. Placed alongside some of the other
older recordings, it shaves off whole minutes from each of the
individual movements.
The A minor concerto BWV 1041, is infectious in its
spontaniety, so much so that one almost forgets that this is, to begin
with, in the minor mode, which is more often associated with pathos
and gloom and melancholy. Not even in the lyrical cantilena of
the slow movement, over a darkly-coloured ostinato bass, does a
hint of any Aeolian (that is, minor key) "negativity" come through,
and Christoph Poppen's fine tone is to be well-savoured.
The E major concerto BWV 1042, once a famously advertising
jingle for a certain uptown brand of personal lifestyle products, is
no less attractive. Certainly, Bach's melodic invention is at its most
potent here - who could forget those bold opening triads of the first
movement - and the playing does it ample justice. In the slow movment,
Poppen interrupts the bass ostinato with a melody of haunting
beauty as the melody line transforms from C-sharp minor back into E
major. The last movement, with its whirlwind of four solo sections
interspersed between five ensemble tuttis, is also very
effectively built-up as each solo iteration gets increasingly
detailed, so that the conclusion, when it finally arrives, comes as a
mini-apotheosis.
Rilling and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart clearly eschew the heavily
accented style so common in continental Europe in the seventies and
eighties; they seem to go more for musical character in their playing.
Rilling does not unduly belabour the reading into the "depth" of the
music or wilfully "force" a sense of pathos, as some conductors are
wont to do, but keeps everything fluent.
The double concerto essentially thrives on the interplay of two
musical personalities, distinct but equal: here, as before,
Poppen's reading is vigorous and aristocratic. Ms Faust, on the other
hand, is simply conscientious: is she guilty of trying too much, in
their game of "catch me if you can", to imitate her leader's style ?
Certainly, their warmly nourished violin timbres suggest as if they
are trying to sound as alike as possible. Nonetheless, Ms
Faust, in the final say, acquits her supporting role well - although,
out of pure curiosity, I can't help wondering what it might have
sounded like if their roles were swapped.
The siciliana-like largo is, as with the previous
works, played at some pace. At this speed, it isn't as probing as one
might would have liked, even if the easy conviction of the playing
sweeps you away. This interplay carries into the last movement, but
this is where the muscularity of the reading starts to grow wearisome.
Not that this isn't an ebullient performance: the two soloists
interweave their strands with some athelectism, with Rilling and the
orchestra at their most obliging, but a bit more velvet and less iron
would have been preferable here.
The final thing to be said is that the common-sensical coupling of
these three popular violin concerti comes up to only forty-two minutes
and thirty-five seconds, which is way under par by today's
standards. I suppose this is because of the serialized format in which
Hänssler are issuing the works of Bach - a similar coupling also
appeared on the Koopman Edition on Erato, no doubt for the same
reasons - but ultimately this simply makes the disc uncompetitive in a
market with more than a few alternative performances with better content.
But for those willing to accept the extravagance, this is a
brand-new recording (May 1999) with vivid sound. The soloists are
placed rather close to the ensemble, especially in the double
concerto, but not to the point of detraction. In view of this, I
wonder how well the quality of this fresh sound will have aged in ten
or twenty years' time - will the style of today's playing
affect the quality of the supposedly-immutable digital
recording ? The answer will come in time, but for the moment, this is
one to enjoy.
by Johann Ernst Rentsch, 1712
Isabelle Faust, who joins Poppen as the second soloist for the
double violin concerto (BWV 1043), comes with impressive credentials:
a string of first prizes and cultural awards to her name, not to
mention - if I may digress here - being a dead ringer for the English
actress Kate Beckinsale (be still my heart !) from her picture in the
liner notes. Ms Faust, we are told, also plays the Sleeping
Beauty Stradivarius and therefore, comes aboard with a certain
promise of youthful potential.
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To Bach Is To Be Human The Motets The Magnificat The Brandenburg Concerti The Orchestral Suites The Harpsichord Concerti The Goldberg Variations |
Benjamin Chee is still trying to find the correlation
between uptown brands of personal lifestyle products and classical music.
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682: 31.3.2000 〣enjamin Chee
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Brandenburg Concertos Nos.1, 2, 3 & 6. Cologne CO/M黮ler-Br黨l (Naxos)
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The Harpsichord Concerti An Inktroduction.
Harpsichord Concerti Vols.1 & 2, BWV1052-1058. Levin/Bach-Collegium Stuttgart/Rilling (H鋘ssler).
Violin Concertos. Wallfisch/OAE (Veritas) and Manze/Podger (Harmonia Mundi).
Violin Concertos, BWVs 1041-43. Faust, Poppen/Bach-Collegium Stuttgart/Rilling (H鋘ssler).
Violin Concertos, Reconstructed, BWVs 1045, 1052, 1056 & 1064R. (H鋘ssler)
J.S. BACH The Orchestral Suites, BWV1066-69 - An Inktroduction.
J.S. BACH The Orchestral Suites, BWV1066-69 - Recommended Recordings.
Violin & Oboe Concerti Wonderful concertos courtesy of the spirit of transcription.
Oboe Concerti An inexpensive Naxos way to experience beautiful Bach.