When it comes to J.S. Bach via Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan
you can be pretty sure you are hearing state-of-the-art recording and
performances. With the huge project recording Bach’s Cantatas now complete,
these musicians can further explore instrumental music which has already
brought top choice recordings of the
Brandenburg Concertos and
numerous solo works for harpsichord.
Each of the three concertos
BWV 1060-62 are accompanied by a
small quintet of strings: what amounts to a standard string quartet plus a
violone bass. This light and transparent backing balances well while putting
the harpsichords firmly in the foreground. While you wouldn’t exactly call
it muscular it also avoids sounding thin, with plenty of rhythmic oomph in
the faster movements. The programme opens with the refreshing sounds of the
Concerto in C minor, BWV 1062, better known in its version for two
violins in D minor
BWV 1043. The booklet notes remark on Bach’s
careful arrangement in this version, and this superb music sounds excellent
in this performance, though don’t expect much expressive sustain in that
beautiful
Andante e piano central movement. The dialogue between
the soloists is nicely captured in
BWV 1061, the final
Fuga a genuine delight. The
Concerto in C minor, BWV 1060
is a real masterpiece, and as with the other concertos I admire the players
for expressive playing which avoids pretension. These are works which can
speak for themselves, and with tempi neither too swift or too slow there are
no weak moments and plenty of life-enhancing energy on show.
There are inevitably quite a few competitors in this field, not least from
Helmut Müller-Brühl on Naxos 8.554217, which has lively performances of all
of these double-harpsichord concertos and
BWV 1034 and
BWV
1065 for three and four harpsichords respectively. The venerable
Philips recordings from Raymond Leppard and the English Chamber Orchestra
now sound a bit stately by comparison but are by no means ugly ducklings,
and somewhere in between are the elegantly polished but rather uninvolving
forces of Robert Leven and Jeffrey Kahane with Helmuth Rilling on the
Hänssler label. There are many more, and you can’t ignore Ton Koopman on
Warner Classics (see
review), but if you are collectors of the fruitful
Suzuki/BIS collaboration then this will be an automatic choice and one which
will reward your loyalty.
As so many of Bach’s concertos are arrangements is doesn’t seem so very
strange to have Masato Suzuki’s two harpsichord arrangement of the
Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066. The full sound of the
two instruments together creates its own excitement, and there is plenty to
enjoy in this version. The justifications for its creation laid out in the
booklet are an interesting sideline but not really necessary. Masato
Suzuki’s arrangement is “an attempt to reconstruct what Bach might have done
himself”, and it certainly sounds convincing, with the sonorities of the
instruments explored to the full. The thrumming low strings in the final
Passepied are wonderful. Great fun is to be had from the
differences between each dance movement and the cracking pace with which
some are taken, adding to the virtuoso flair surrounding this entire CD.
I have an affection for Bach on the piano, but these are works which
respond as well or better to the bounce and upper harmonic spectrum of
harpsichords, especially when performed with so much verve and dedication as
in this case. This is a very fine release, the BIS engineering to be
relished in stereo as well as in the added space and sense of detail you
have from the 5.0 SACD set-up. This is one case in which feeling as if you
are amongst the musicians is nothing but pleasurable.
Dominy Clements
Masterwork Index:
Bach keyboard
concertos
