Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Orchestral Suites and Violin Concertos
Alexei Utkin (solo oboe); Tobias Carron, Elena Duran (solo flutes); Sergei
Bezrodny (solo harpsichord); Arkady Futer, Boris Garlitsky (CD 4 10-12) (solo
violins)
Moscow Virtuosi/Vladimir Spivakov (violin and director)
rec. 22-28 April 1989, 20 April 1990, Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich (CDs
1-2); 10–14 July 1982, Église de St Matthieu, Colmar, France (CD 2); 24-30
July 1988, Église du Liban, Paris (CD 4), DDD.
Full contents list at end of review
NEWTON CLASSICS 8802086 [4 CDs: 233:48] 
Newish label Newton Classics has been doing a fine job unearthing neglected
and deleted recordings and re-issuing them in a bargain format. These are
digital performances by revered violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov
directing the Moscow Virtuosi. They are recorded variously in Paris, Munich
and at the Colmar Festival in France between 1982 and 1990 - and they have
come up very nicely.
They are more traditional in style and played on modern instruments, although
vibrato is kept to a tasteful minimum. There is none of the aggressive heavy-handedness
previously associated with Russian ensembles. I am rarely an advocate of the
“let the music do the talking” schools of musical criticism and performance,
especially as it is often an index to lazy, bland or uninspired interpretation.
Here, however, I find myself admiring the grace and naturalness of Spivakov’s
playing and direction without having very much to say about its specific features.
He and his band, which he founded in 1979, exemplify the clarity of articulation
typically associated with Russian string players. Textures are never thick;
everything is poised and clean and each instrumental line emerges brightly.
Tempi are sprung and represent a judicious compromise between anachronistic
Romantic indulgence and the soulless jog-trot too often associated with the
more extreme exponents of the HIP movement. Nor are the strings, for all that
they retain some astringency, ever scrawny. The deliciously raucous trumpet
playing is a virtuoso delight and the woodwind are suitably grainy. All this
conveys a period sense without any of the concomitant disadvantages.
Some might find the Overtures too portentous; having been brought up with
the Munchinger style that’s how I want to hear them played: grand and stately
but never static. I’m not keen on the funny, fussy little embellishments in
the second gavotte of no.1 however, but that’s a minor cavil.
One of the original 1987 reviews on first release of the violin concertos
was scathing and trots out all the usual accusations from a fully paid-up
member of the new HIP converts society: “ponderous … positively somnambulistic
… vibrato-coated … heavy, heavy”. I don’t hear that at all: the slow movements
in the violin concertos are indeed leisurely but very poised with immaculate
intonation and a lovely, pure tone from Spivakov. He sustains and swells the
B flat in the slow movement of the A minor concerto in strikingly beautiful
fashion. All repeats are observed but the generally fleet tempi prevent any
longueurs and the music positively dances along as it should. The musicians
who accompany Spivakov in the violin concertos are first rate, as are solo
flutes Tobias and Elena Duran and the aforementioned, uncredited trumpeter
in the Suites.
All in all, this is a very attractive bargain compilation which as well as
programming the expected works includes comparative rarities such as the D
minor Concerto for violin and oboe, a reconstruction from the double harpsichord
Concerto in C minor, BWV1060, and the three-violin Concerto, BWV1064, also
derived from one for three harpsichords, itself of doubtful provenance.
Ralph Moore
A very attractive bargain compilation.
Full contents list:-
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Orchestral Suites and Violin and Oboe Concertos
CD 1 [51:44]
Orchestral Suite No.1 in C BWV1066 [26:43]
Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor BWV1067 [25:01]
CD 2 [51:00]
Orchestral Suite No.3 in D BWV1068 [26:07]
Orchestral Suite No.4 in D BWV1069 [24:53]
CD 3 [57:38]
Violin Concerto in E BWV1042 [18:23]
Violin Concerto in A minor BWV1041 [14:19]
Oboe Concerto in D minor BWV1059/1056 [12:29]
Oboe d’amore Concerto in A BWV1055 [12:31]
CD 4 [73:16]
Concerto for violin and oboe in D minor, BWV1060 [14:43]
Concerto for violin, flute and harpsichord in A minor BWV1044 [23:04]
Concerto for two violins in D minor BWV1043 [16:26]
Concerto for three violins in D BWV1064 [19:03]
Alexei Utkin (solo oboe); Tobias Carron, Elena Duran (solo flutes); Sergei Bezrodny (solo harpsichord); Arkady Futer, Boris Garlitsky (CD 4 10-12) (solo violins)
Moscow Virtuosi/Vladimir Spivakov (violin and director)
rec. 22-28 April 1989, 20 April 1990, Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich (CDs 1-2); 10–14 July 1982, Église de St Matthieu, Colmar, France (CD 2); 24-30 July 1988, Église du Liban, Paris (CD 4), DDD.
NEWTON CLASSICS 8802806 [4 CDs: 233:48]