Boxes of Bach delights.....

[ardcarp]

What a lovely lot of Bach on Record Review this a.m.

10.30am – Simon Heighes on new recordings of JS Bach

BACH, J S: French Suites Nos. 1-6, BWV812-817
Murray Perahia (piano)
DG 4796565 (2CD)

BACH, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988
Angela Hewitt (piano)
HYPERION CDA68146 (CD)

BACH, J S: Goldberg Variations, BWV988
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
DG 4795929 (CD)

BACH, J S: Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin, BWV1001-1006
Kyung Wha Chung (violin)
WARNER CLASSICS 9029594416 (2CD)

Rachel Barton Pine: Testament
BACH, J S: Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin, BWV1001-1006
Rachel Barton Pine (violin)
AVIE AV2360 (2CD)

Bach - Secular Cantatas VII
BACH, J S: Cantata BWV212 'Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet' (Peasant Cantata); Cantata BWV209 'Non sa che sia dolore' (Italian Cantata); Cantata BWV203 'Amore traditore'
Mojca Erdmann (soprano), Dominik Worner (bass), Kiyomi Suga (flute), Nobuaki Fukukawa (horn), Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord), Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki (conductor)
BIS BIS2191 (Hybrid SACD)

BACH, J S: Christmas Oratorio, BWV248
Jutta Bohnert (soprano), Rebecca Martin (alto), Markus Schafer (tenor), Thomas Laske (bass), Winds-Bacher Knabenchor. Deutsche Kammer-Virtuosen Berlin, Karl Friedrich Beringer (cantatas 1-3), (cantatas 4-6)
SONY 88985331452 (2CD)

BACH, J S: Christmas Oratorio, BWV248
Mary Bevan (soprano), Clare Wilkinson (alto), Nicholas Mulroy (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass) - Cantatas 1, 3, 6); Joanne Lunn (soprano), Ciara Hendrick (mezzo), Thomas Hobbs (tenor), Konstantin Wolff (bass) - Cantatas 2, 4, 5., Dunedin Consort, John Butt (conductor)
LINN CKD499 (2 Hybrid SACDs)
11.45am – Disc of the Week


Murray Perahia and Angela Hewitt can do no wrong for me when it comes to Bach on the piano. Simon mentioned that Perahia had spent 2 years playing the harpsichord and that this somehow 'informed' his Bach playing. If that is so, then Ms Hewitt must owe a lot to the organ loft of her father...her playing always reminds me of the articulation of a classical organ in good hands! I've treasured her first Goldbergs (got a signed copy ) but am not in a rush to get the latest. Listening on the car stereo, it seemed to have a bit of unnecessary add-on reverb, which I didn't like much.

The big shock was hearing Kyung Wha Chung playing a Partita. It was awful! S.H. tried to be polite about it, but this was nothing to do with HIPP or un-HIPP....it was just out of tune! Probably a big mistake for this fine artist to try a new repertoire, though in fairness I've only heard the bit played this morning.

Loved the Xmas oratorio excerpts (co-incidentally my own favourite bits from when I sang it as a kid). Just a shame it had to 'supermarket' the Festive Season. Our household is steadfastly in Advent. No tinsel for at least another fortnight.

[pastoralguy]

I was really looking forward to Kyung Wha Chung's Bach CDs but was VERY disappointed with them. (In fact, I think they are under the driver's seat of the motor car just now!)

To be brutally honest, she's just too old to have recorded them at this stage of her career and her technique just isn't up to it now. I think what really bothers me is that if a student played like this to her in a master class she would jump on the technical imperfections and tell them to go home and practice SLOWLY!

Sorry, but it's just not up to the standard one expects from a top class artist.

[Beef Oven!]

No-one is ever too old for anything like this. You may have valid reasons for not liking what you have bought, but please rethink what it is that you don’t like about the performances.

[pastoralguy]

I'm sorry but it's not in tune! As my old fiddle teacher, Manny Hurwitz, used to say 'If you're not playing in tune then you're not playing musically!'

End of discussion.

[Beef Oven!]

I'm sorry but it's not in tune! As my old fiddle teacher, Manny Hurwitz, used to say 'If you're not playing in tune then you're not playing musically!'

End of discussion.

Phew! Glad you changed your reasons!

I’m rarely in tune, and younger than KWC!

[pastoralguy]

Phew! Glad you changed your reasons!

I’m rarely in tune, and younger than KWC!

I just realised that I hadn't made my reason for disliking them clear! I have her earlier recordings of solo Bach from the 1980's and it's terrific. Alas, she only recorded half of the six.

It's very sad, but old age has simply caught up with her and , on a recording, it's very noticeable that she's just not right especially compared with the many other players who have committed these works to disc. I did hear her play the d minor partita in a LCD performance over a year ago and the imperfections bothered me much less in a concert than in a recording where it HAS to be correct.

I've played a lot of solo Bach over the years and, boy, do I know how hard it is to even play half decently which is why I expect it to be flawless from a player of Chung's reputation. Which makes me wonder why the disc's producer didn't insist on re-takes and why Ms. Chung didn't hear her imperfections when listening to play backs. She did, after all, play for Mr. Heifetz who certainly wouldn't have allowed such playing to be heard by a knowledgeable public.

[EdgeleyRob]

What a lovely lot of Bach on Record Review this a.m.

[ardcarp]

As my old fiddle teacher, Manny Hurwitz.......

Wow. There's a big name from the past...well quite recent past. I see he died in 2006. A great musician and a great player.

Back to KWC, I'm quite surprised the record producer was happy with what was, er, produced....at least as we heard it in the E major partita.

[pastoralguy]

Back to KWC, I'm quite surprised the record producer was happy with what was, er, produced....at least as we heard it in the E major partita.

My thoughts exactly!

[BBMmk2]

Re the Goldberg Variations. I quite like Esfahanis's recording, as a whole buit feel the opening aria, is taken far too slowly? Andras Schiff's earlier Decca and Murray Perahia's Sony recordings do it for me. MH's new DG recording of the French Suites is sublime!

[ardcarp]

MH?

[pastoralguy]

I'm told, by a reliable source, that I am to be awarded the new MP DG set to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in three weeks time! I can hardly wait!

[BBMmk2]

MH?

Sorry, MP(Murray Perahia)