Violin Sonatas & Partitas 1
Raid a Bach lover's CD collection and you're sure to find at least one copy of theCello Suites(and probably six or more if it's arealBach lover). Like his other works for unaccompanied string instruments, the Sonatas and Partitas Bach composed for solo violin were long misunderstood as mere pedagogical exercises. Romantic composers attempted to "rescue" them with transcriptions for piano and the like (the vast, labyrinthine Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 still holds a place in the piano repertoire). But, as with Casals and the Cello Suites, the amazing eloquence of interpreters such asArthur Grumiauxhelped establish the significance of this music for solo violin as among the composer's exalted masterpieces. In her highly acclaimed account using a baroque violin with gut strings (from 1739, by the Genoan maker Pesarinius), English violinistRachel Podgerjoins the top rank of Bach interpreters. She employs the latest insights of authentic-performance research but remains at the furthest remove from musicological stuffiness, expressing instead a living, breathing musicality that will stir you to the marrow.It takes very little for modern ears fattened on gushy vibrato and sentimental excess to adjust to Podger's beautifully restrained delivery--rather like the first minutes spent adjusting to Shakespearean English in a stage production of the bard. After that, the Baroque idiom sounds quite natural indeed. Podger wrings a fresh brand of opulence: in the engaging imagination of her ornamentations and in her rich sense of lines coming together and diverging, she spins a marvelous sonic fabric. Listen to the channels and currents she makes of that celebrated Chaconne in the Partita No. 2 and you won't need to hear it on the keyboard again. This is one of the most significant Bach interpretations available today--and you won't want to missPodgers's follow-up second volume.--Thomas May