Several themes run through this album of solo violin music from
German violinist Herwig Zack. Four of the works suggest a broadening
of the repertoire in the shadow of the fifth; Bach’s violin
works, after all, being so dominant in the repertoire. Three
of them were composed for Yehudi Menuhin, a prolific commissioner
of new music, while Menuhin’s Bach remains one of his most important
legacies. And, more trivially, this disc reminds us that besides
Bach, plenty of other Bs wrote solo violin music.
Zack’s recital gives us the two Suites by Bloch, in reverse
order and separated by a sample of Bach’s mighty example of
violin writing. Bloch’s Suites for solo violin, composed for
Menuhin, date from quite late in the composer’s life - both
written in 1958 - and maybe their close proximity makes them
sound like two sides of a musical coin. The language of the
Suites is lonely, anguished, and at times quite angular. If
anything, the First Suite is more introspective than the Second,
though its initial upward stab makes for a striking and combative
effect. At its heart is a brief Andante, just two lines long
in the score, which evokes the more simple tonality of Bach.
Zach underscores this link by paring back his tone and vibrato,
a technique also deployed in the Bach Second Sonata.
The Second Suite occasionally slips into a Bartókian sound-world,
and its most striking moment is a series of declamatory chords
in the Moderato second movement. These are both intriguing
works, but I must admit that despite having listened to them
a number of times, I’ve struggled to retain the sound of them
in my memory. Zack’s intonation is always precise, but he’s
let down, particularly in these works, by the recording’s lack
of dynamic contrast; fortissimo moments are often little
varied from pianos that follow them, though I sense that
this is not Zack’s fault. The dynamic issues are less of a problem
in Bach’s Second Sonata, BWV 1003, in which Zack borrows period
simplicity with minimal vibrato and sustain. He adapts his sound
very well, though a less self-consciously stylised performance
might have made more of the lines of the Fuga or of the
famous Andante.
The last two works on the disc turn out to be the most appealing.
Paul Ben-Haim’s Sonata of 1951 makes a great play of Jewish
elements, such as a distinctive harmony and single-note drones
maintained beneath modal flourishes. Zack is at his very best
in Berio’s Sequenza VIII, which plays with the idea of closely
pitched clusters of notes and, in a brilliant central section,
a ghostly toccata of smudged semi-quavers. At one point, Zack
excels himself by continuing the Toccata while interjecting
four-note chords into their flow without ever losing the thread
of the underlying semi-quavers. It’s a bravura moment from a
very impressive violinist.
Andrew Morris
Follow Andrew’s string music blog at http://devilstrillblog.blogspot.com/
Herwig Zack (violin) 
