Bach's Violin Sonatas & Partitas (solo)

[SonicMan46]

Just perused this thread and amazed at how many old and newer recordings exist and are still coming!  My current 4 sets are shown below - the first two women still favorites for me, especially Ingrid Matthews who grew up in my home town of Winston-Salem, attended the NC School of the Arts HS, then went to Indiana University School of Music; her parents taught at the UNCSA (name change and part of the UNC system here). 

I listened to the first discs of each recording and enjoyed all - also looked at reviews (attached for those interested and trying to decide!) - don't want to add any more but could replace one (Pine or Barati but happy w/ them too); so, will be curious how others have changed there preferences over the years since the start of this thread in 2007!  Dave

     

[staxomega]

Interesting how tastes differ. I have owned a dozen more recordings, which I have culled: Kaakinen-Pilch, Beyer, Ibragimova, Beznosiuk, Suk, Perlman, Grumiaux, Milstein (both recordings), Ida Haendel, Ricci and Rosand.

But Terakado I have always treasured.

I understand your strong preference for HIP, but to cull Milstein and Grumiaux makes my heart ache 

Just perused this thread and amazed at how many old and newer recordings exist and are still coming!  My current 4 sets are shown below - the first two women still favorites for me, especially Ingrid Matthews who grew up in my home town of Winston-Salem, attended the NC School of the Arts HS, then went to Indiana University School of Music; her parents taught at the UNCSA (name change and part of the UNC system here). 

I listened to the first discs of each recording and enjoyed all - also looked at reviews (attached for those interested and trying to decide!) - don't want to add any more but could replace one (Pine or Barati but happy w/ them too); so, will be curious how others have changed there preferences over the years since the start of this thread in 2007!  Dave

     

This is my favorite set from this century

[SonicMan46]

I understand your strong preference for HIP, but to cull Milstein and Grumiaux makes my heart ache 

This is my favorite set from this century

 

LOL -    Appropriate that you said 'this century' - I have 3 recordings w/ Carmignola, all Vivaldi including the one I added above since Mullova has been a 'thread favorite' - but the other is available on Spotify - will take a listen and could replace the Barati?  Dave

[staxomega]

LOL -    Appropriate that you said 'this century' - I have 3 recordings w/ Carmignola, all Vivaldi including the one I added above since Mullova has been a 'thread favorite' - but the other is available on Spotify - will take a listen and could replace the Barati?  Dave

Ah, I can't help you out on who to replace I get how the Mullova won the blind comparison for JSB's Sonatas and Partitas, it's fantastic.

[Mandryka]

This came out in January this year. I've never seen the historian promoted to the same status as the performers on a cover before.  Has to be worth a read and a listen, surely, for anyone interested in what the score means.

https://static.qobuz.com/goodies/08/000147580.pdf

[Mandryka]

This came out in January this year. I've never seen the historian promoted to the same status as the performers on a cover before.  Has to be worth a read and a listen, surely, for anyone interested in what the score means.

https://static.qobuz.com/goodies/08/000147580.pdf

And it has a particularly eloquent chaconne. Rhetorical.

[prémont]

I understand your strong preference for HIP, but to cull Milstein and Grumiaux makes my heart ache 

It's not a simple question of HIP vs non-HIP. As I wrote I have also culled Kaakinen-Pilch, Beyer and Beznosiuk, but I have kept several non-HIP recordings (Lautenbacher I and II, Karl Suske, Dmitry Sitkovetsky II, Henryk Szeryng II, Christian Tetzlaff I, II and III, Kristóf Baráti I and II, Julia Fischer, Ilya Kaler, Yehudi Menuhin II and III, Gideon Kremer I and II and Salvatore Accardo I and II), so there is no shortage of MI versions in my collection.

[prémont]

And it has a particularly eloquent chaconne. Rhetorical.

Sounds interesting if it isn't overdone.

[Mandryka]

Sounds interesting if it isn't overdone.

Well the articulation is extremely incisive, the most I've heard I think.  And the tone he produces is austere, to say the least. There's a certain shock of the new about these performances which make them worth exploring even if they make you uncomfortable.

The booklet essay is full of interesting ideas. How well they're executed in the performance is another matter. For example, Glüxam says that she's sure the music are chamber pieces (rather than church music or theatre pieces) and that this means that they should be played with delicacy and intimacy. I'm not completely convinced that Aulner pulls that off.

[prémont]

Well the articulation is extremely incisive, there most I've heard I think.  And the tone he produces is austere, to say the least. There's a certain shock of the new about these performances which make them worth exploring even if they make you uncomfortable.

The booklet essay is full of interesting ideas. How well they're executed in the performance is another matter. For example, Glüxam says that she's sure the music are chamber pieces (rather than church music or theatre pieces) and that this means that they should be played with delicacy and intimacy. I'm not completely convinced that Aulner pulls that off.

How do Auner's performing style compare to Guido de Neve's recording of the violin/harpsichord sonatas?

[SonicMan46]

Well the articulation is extremely incisive, the most I've heard I think.  And the tone he produces is austere, to say the least. There's a certain shock of the new about these performances which make them worth exploring even if they make you uncomfortable.

The booklet essay is full of interesting ideas. How well they're executed in the performance is another matter. For example, Glüxam says that she's sure the music are chamber pieces (rather than church music or theatre pieces) and that this means that they should be played with delicacy and intimacy. I'm not completely convinced that Auner pulls that off.

Well, some 'new' male recordings of these works have been mentioned - should I replace (not going to increase the number owned) my Barati (received excellent reviews although Jerry Dubins was 'upset' at the lack of repeats - see attached reviews of all but Daniel Auner, likely too new at the moment).

Setup several Spotify playlists, complete one shown below, plus a smaller playlist of two movements w/ each violinist in succession - first, I agree w/ Mandryka quoted above about the 'austerity' of Auner's performance, i.e. light 'bare bones' w/o the gusto or dynamics of the others.  Second, not convinced by this limited hearing that I need to replace Barati w/ any of these other recordings - may just 'sit pat' for a while -     Dave

[Mandryka]

How do Auner's performing style compare to Guido de Neve's recording of the violin/harpsichord sonatas?

De Neve is much more fluid and lyrical, and his tone is rich and warm by comparison with Auner. I think Guido de Neve was primarily focussed on exploring the conventional affects of the keys. Auner is a more thoroughgoing  revision of the accepted ideas about what this music should sound like. I can see now why he's given such prominence to his musicologist Dogmar Gluexam  -- without the support of her work it would be just too easy to dismiss these performances as, at best, eccentric and challenging.

[prémont]

De Neve is much more fluid and lyrical, and his tone is rich and warm by comparison with Auner. I think Guido de Neve was primarily focussed on exploring the conventional affects of the keys. Auner is a more thoroughgoing  revision of the accepted ideas about what this music should sound like. I can see now why he's given such prominence to his musicologist Dogmar Gluexam  -- without the support of her work it would be just too easy to dismiss these performances as, at best, eccentric and challenging.

Thanks for the informative answer. My conclusion is, that it may be interesting just to hear Auner's interpretation, but on the other hand it is probably of the kind you don't feel inspired to revisit. I may be wrong of course.

[Mandryka]

Thanks for the informative answer. My conclusion is, that it may be interesting just to hear Auner's interpretation, but on the other hand it is probably of the kind you don't feel inspired to revisit. I may be wrong of course.

I don't find it very enjoyable to listen to at the moment -- but I may be a bit reactionary. Like those people who rejected Leonhoardt's AoF because it wasn't like Scherchen's!

[Mandryka]

A comment I found online about Auner supports the idea that he's maybe not the best violinist to implement Gluexam's ideas

I've only dipped into (quite a few) movements from the Auner recording, and it seems to me a rather missed opportunity. The consultant musicologist has obviously gone into great detail about 18th-century notions of rhetoric, Affekt, and much more. But Auner plays on a violin with what looks (and sounds) like a conventional modern setup. There's very little evidence of his trying to change his conventional, modern use of vibrato, and a lot of the fast music sounds like any modern violinist untouched by HIPP trends. It's only the slower music whose phrasing seems to have been influenced by Glüxam's work - and the resolutely modern setup and tone production doesn't really make me want to listen in any more detail, I'm afraid.

[bioluminescentsquid]

I tend to agree, the essay is interesting but the playing is unimpressive, reminds me of a mix of the conventional post-romantic style (leaning on the overly muscular side) and the detached playing of 50's organists in Bach in an attempt to sound "clean" and "objective." Which makes it much ado about nothing.

[Spotted Horses]

This is my favorite set from this century

That is part of the odd style of cover photo in which a classical musician poses with their instrument in a wilderness area. I think the subtitle for the cover photo should be "is that bird shit on my Stradivarius?"

[Que]

That is part of the odd style of cover photo in which a classical musician poses with their instrument in a wilderness area. I think the subtitle for the cover photo should be "is that bird shit on my Stradivarius?"

[aukhawk]

At least there's no salt water involved.     Here's a couple of especially cringeworthy examples:


Bach Sonatas & Partitas - Lara St John


Bach Cello Suites - Angela East

That last is actually among my very favourite recordings of the Cello Suites. 
But any cover art in this sub-genre makes my toes curl. 
Just to show that even stateman-like golden-agers weren't immune - this pre-Photoshop (I had the LP) horror:


Cello Sonatas - Pierre Fournier

[Mandryka]

I tend to agree, the essay is interesting but the playing is unimpressive, reminds me of a mix of the conventional post-romantic style (leaning on the overly muscular side) and the detached playing of 50's organists in Bach in an attempt to sound "clean" and "objective." Which makes it much ado about nothing.

Yes everyone's coming to the same conclusion about this, it's a missed opportunity.