Admirers of Tureck
should note that this material was recorded
c.1990 and was previously released on
Albany TROY 009. Tureck’s recent death
has removed a great Bachian from our
midst but reissues such as this and
the live recordings that are beginning
to emanate from the vaults of broadcasting
companies will further her memory. Her
reputation has remained obdurately mixed
over the years, retaining an ability
deftly to divide opinion. The current
reissue should continue that process.
This recital was performed
before a small and intimate gathering
whose occasional applause sometimes
greets the end of the works. Sound quality
is excellent and all the more so in
revealing Tureck’s absolute command
of contrapuntal lines. Her tempi are
consistently measured and one must acknowledge
that throughout these performances one
is in the presence of a musician of
overwhelming digital and spiritual identification
with her material. She plays two sets
of Preludes and Fugues from the two
Books of The Well Tempered Clavier.
The C major Prelude is extremely slow
and has a tonal luminosity, and a bell-like
legato, that compels admiration whereas
the Fugue has a strong control of dynamic
variance and of contrapuntal entries
and voicings. This is a characteristic
of her playing, with the C minor Fugue
once again witnessing minutely gauged
entry point weight. She brings a humorous
clarity to the inversion of the C sharp
major – and demonstrates here, I think,
that when she stands accused of academicism
and didacticism in her Bach playing
not nearly enough attention is paid
to the wholeness and humanity of her
music making.
The English Suite reflects
many of the qualities that animate her
playing of the selection from the Preludes
and Fugues; the articulation, the rise
and fall and accenting of the Allemande,
the stabbing (but always rounded) attacks
in the Courante and her stentorian,
almost senatorially measured, Gavotte
I. The Sonata is better known in its
guise of Violin Sonata in A minor BWV
1003 and it’s germane to hear her variance
of dynamics and of touch in the repeated
notes of the Allegro as well as the
dark sonorities that she cultivates
in the Andante. When it comes to the
Italian Concerto one mustn’t expect
the kind of fleet and mercurial playing
of other exponents. This is a performance
of clarity and space, with an Andante
of due gravity and a Presto finale that
abjures aggressive attack- though there’s
an ebullient rolled chord at the end.
Tureck recorded all
these pieces commercially throughout
her career and these recordings have
since been augmented by live ones such
as this. Acknowledging the controversy
surrounding her Bach performances one
is nevertheless still compelled by their
own taut logic and elevation.
Jonathan Woolf
Rosalyn Tureck (piano) 
