This is the second
in the Liszt-Bach series from Concert
Artist though its hyphenated inspiration
appears to have led to dichotomous
results here. The works inspired by
Bach take up approximately half of
the disc. There is Bach pure and unadulterated
in the shape of the Sixth Partita
and the F sharp minor Toccata..
Never mind, the musical
performances are untainted by nomenclature.
It also helps that these are works
– including the Bach – that are not
well represented in the current catalogues,
a situation I find puzzling but which
makes this entrant all the more welcome.
The Prelude after Bach’s Weinen,
Klagen exemplifies Joyce Hatto’s
unostentatious control of express
minutiae fused with long-term structural
considerations. There is clarity,
as we have come to expect, no fudging
of technical problems, fine attention
to textual matters; diminuendi, powerful
voicings – in short, passionate but
controlled.
The grandiose digital
demands of the Variations on Weinen,
Klagen, written by Liszt sixteen
years later, are fully met. Power
and introspection are held in equilibrium;
there’s colour and weight of finger
action, and real precision over matters
such as chordal balance. The leonine
and the dramatic indeed unfold with
serious dignity. In the Fantasy of
the Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H
one can admire the sure sense of space
amidst the paragraphs and the weighty
silences; the contrast with the coruscating
fugal playing that follows couldn’t
be more sharply etched. There’s some
implacable virtuosity here.
It’s puzzling that
there are so few contenders in the
current Partita catalogues in which
No.6 is rather poorly represented
(No.1 fares equally poorly). Hatto
approaches it with appreciable control
of its mood and character. There’s
precision in her voicings of the opening
Toccata for instance but its gravity
is allowed to "tell" and
there’s real delicacy of articulacy
in the Courante at a graciously flowing
tempo, melodic strands properly etched.
Her Sarabande has a rather restless
feel and there’s a grandly concluding
Gigue. The multi-sectional Toccata
in F sharp minor, another piece
less than luxuriantly featured in
current catalogues, responds well
to the drama and fluid understanding
Hatto brings to bear. It’s not at
all easy to present this as an entity,
with a sense of fracture often apparent,
but those dangers are not a consideration
in this performance.
The recorded sound
is well judged; neither too enveloping
nor too distant, a natural sounding
perspective in fact and the notes
cover all the pieces performed.
Jonathan Woolf
Joyce Hatto (piano) 
