Garrett Fischbach is
a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s
viola section and has been a member
successively of the National Symphony
and San Francisco orchestras. This production
is his own and he is the producer; the
engineer was Darryl Kubian and the recordings
were made in Upper Ridgewood Community
Church, Ridgewood, New Jersey, though
the aural perspective changes, as the
violinist admits, according to his imperatives
at the time. Sometimes it’s relatively
reverberant and at other times rather
more chilly and upfront. His are performances
of obvious commitment and he’s clearly
given thought to essentials such as
ornamentation, articulation, colour
and some matters of performance practice.
These are also very
individual performances. Clearly a capable
musician he is here attempts a Parnassus-storming
undertaking, which has taxed names far
more grandiose than his own. Let’s consider
the G minor Sonata. There’s a wisp of
ambient noise – of little account –
and the occasional fingerboard incident
(equally passing and trivial) in the
opening Adagio. But one can feel here
immediately his circumscribed tonal
resources and a very dampened approach
to dynamics and to questions of projection.
In Fugues one finds a certain brittleness
of tone and a rather static quality
generally with intonation wavering from
time to time. There’s also a certain
degree of scratchy tone with which to
contend and in the G minor’s Fugue some
very individualised sul ponticello
playing; it sounds very odd. In movements
like the Siciliano he does tend to be
rather slow and to lose impetus; here
his lower strings are not as responsive
as his upper and he can sound a mite
lugubrious. He’s at his happiest in
Prestos and fast movements generally
though the obverse is a degree of motoric
playing that turns Prestos more into
etudes than anything.
I don’t think point-by-point
analysis will much expand on the specifics
of the first Sonata because it majorly
encapsulates his playing as a whole.
I found the mike placement for the B
minor Partita rather encouraged airlessness
and tended to thin his tone. There’s
little sense of projection in these
very reserved readings. Accents are
muted (try the Largo of the C major
Sonata), contrasts absent (Grave of
the A minor Sonata) and phraseology
never really coheres (Minuets I and
II from the E major Partita). To all
of which Fischbach seems to have been
determined to sever inflexions, colouristic
potential and tensile strength from
his performances. The great Chaconne
of the second Partita passes by almost
as a study in indifference.
Whatever Fischbach’s
imperatives in these works I’m afraid
his decision-making does not convince
me; I hope others feel very differently.
Jonathan Woolf
Garrett Fischbach (violin) 
