Antony Gray’s Bach piano transcription concept
is spread across three discs. The first is largely given over to British
composers whilst the second explores Franco-German works. The last starts
with the rather more off-the-beaten track Martucci and Whittaker, but
finishes with contemporary settings by a raft of composers.
The core of the first disc is music compiled for
A Bach Book for
Harriet Cohen. Recorded by Gray in 2003 (one piece in 1998); this
actually predates Jonathan Plowright’s memorable recording for
Hyperion [CDA 67767] by several years. The differences between the two are
instructive with Gray sometimes slower and grander, and sometimes Plowright
more measured. I found it unpredictable which way each would approach a
given transcription. Gray certainly takes Bax’s
Fantasia at a
more tempered tempo but Plowright is more limpid and more warmly recorded
(as he is throughout) in the Howells setting. Gray’s Bridge setting
sounds a touch blunt after Plowright’s more malleable performance.
Certainly the masterpiece here is Vaughan Williams’ transcription of
Ach, bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ where Gray has to cede to
Plowright’s magnificently expressive and communing traversal. This
first disc also includes some self-adaptations by Bach, a capricious
rendering by Cyril Scott of
Mein gläubiges Herze as well as
Harriet Cohen transcriptions. Gray’s performance of Harriet
Cohen’s
Ertödt’ uns durch dein’ Güte
transcription is very trim and no-nonsense, not least after listening to
Cohen’s own performance.
In the second disc the Saint-Saens transcriptions run into
competition, once more, against a Hyperion disc of Bach transcriptions
played by Nadejda Vlaeva [CDA67873]. Even when Gray is slower, as he is in
the Adagio from Cantata BWV3, he is not accorded so warm a recording
as she - which tends to make him sound blunter than he actually is. The
Wilhelm Kempff transcriptions offer interest, not least when measured
against the transcriber’s own warmer performances [DG Eloquence 457
624-2]. Once more Gray is a cooler customer, tonally speaking, though not
always slower. I don’t go much for his awkward rubati in
Ich ruf zu
dir, Herr Jesu Christ not do I favour his tonal resources. In the
Largo from the Keyboard Concerto in F minor Gray’s playing is
much dryer and less overtly pianistic, pitched half way as it is between a
harpsichord and a piano. For the remainder of this disc Gray explores, to
good effect, the work of Tausig (stern), Alkan - quite unusual, although
brief - and Harold Bauer’s rather thickly voiced transcriptions of
movements from the Cello Suites. Unfortunately Bauer never recorded them.
Reger is heard thunderously in the Toccata and Fugue in D minor.
The third disc introduces Martucci’s very slow Orchestral Suite
movement transcriptions, replete with broken chords and Old School approach.
The refined and limpid WG Whittaker transcriptions are not refugees
from Cohen’s
Bach Book but have an independence all their
own. Tivadar Szánto’s Prelude and Fugue in G minor is a
welcome discovery. And then, to the end, is the contemporary section,
leading with Gray’s own transcription of
Letzte Stunde, brich
herein. Judith Weir locates some droll humour in her work, whilst
Earl Wild offers mordant dissonances in his
Hommage à Poulenc
via a transcription of the Sarabande from the Keyboard Partita No.1.
François Sarhan’s work sounds unsettled, if not necessarily
unsettling, whilst Michael Blake breaks into a pop cum show tune in
Oh Clare, a bizarre reworking of
Jesu, Joy of Man’s
Desiring. There’s a late night Blues feel to Frank Millward’s
opus and an extended extemporisation on
Sleepers Wake, the work
of Andrew Schultz. Gabriel Jackson ends the recital with celebratory
bells in the carillon
In Dulci Jubilo.
This set represents a valuable compendium of Bach transcriptions,
past and present, in performances that are largely authoritative, but
sometimes just a little detached.
Jonathan Woolf
Track-listing
CD 1
GRANVILLE BANTOCK 1868-1946
1 ‘Wachet auf’ - Chorus from Cantata BWV140 [4:28]
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 1872-1958
‘Ach, bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ’
2 Chorale [1:08]
3 Chorale Prelude, BWV649 [3:30]
CONSTANT LAMBERT 1905-1951
4 ‘Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich’ - Chorale Prelude,
BWV605 [1:47]
EUGENE GOOSSENS 1893-1962
5 Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV1047: II. Andante [4:08]
ARNOLD BAX 1883-1953
6 Fantasia, BWV572 [5:38]
JOHN IRELAND 1879-1962
7 ‘Meine Seele erhebt den Herren’ - Chorale Prelude,
BWV648 [1:41]
HERBERT HOWELLS 1892-1983
8 ‘O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß’ -
Chorale Prelude, BWV622 [4;27]
LORD BERNERS 1883-1950
9 In dulci jubilo, BWV729 [1:56]
WILLIAM GILLIES WHITTAKER 1876-1944
10 ‘Wir glauben all’ in einem Gott, Vater’ -
Chorale Prelude, BWV740 [4:33]
ARTHUR BLISS 1891-1975
11 ‘Das alte Jahr vergangen ist’ - Chorale Prelude,
BWV614 [2:59]
FRANK BRIDGE 1879-1941
12 ‘Komm, süsser Tod’ - Aria, BWV478 [2:52]
WILLIAM WALTON 1902-1983
13 ‘Herzlich tut mich verlangen’ - Chorale Prelude,
BWV727 [1:58]
[1]-[13] from A Bach Book for Harriet Cohen
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH 1685-1750
14 Partita in E major, BWV1006a (Violin Partita No. 3 in E major,
BWV1006): III. Gavotte en Rondeau [2:52]
15 Sonata in D minor, BWV964 (Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor,
BWV1003): III. Andante [4:45]
OTTO SCHRÖDER
16 Cantata BWV106 (Actus Tragicus): Sonatina [2:22]
CYRIL SCOTT 1879-1970
17 ‘Mein gläubiges Herze’ - Aria from Cantata BWV68
‘Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt’ [2:31]
HARRIET COHEN 1895-1967
18 ‘Ertödt’ uns durch dein’ Güte’
- Chorale from Cantata BWV22 ‘Jesus nahm zu sich die
Zwölfe’ [2:04]
19 ‘Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier’ - Chorale Prelude,
BWV731 [2:50]
Cantata BWV155 ‘Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange?’
20 III. ‘So sei, o Seele, sei zufrieden’ - Recitative
[1:42]
21 IV. ‘Wirf, mein Herze, wirf dich noch’ - Aria [3:06]
PERCY ALDRIDGE GRAINGER 1882-1961
22 Blithe Bells (Cantata BWV208 ‘Was mir behagt, ist nur die
muntre Jagd’) [4:42]
CD 2
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS 1835-1921
1 Cantata BWV29 ‘Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir’:
Sinfonia [4:01]
2 Adagio (arranged from Cantata BWV3 ‘Ach Gott, wie manches
Herzeleid’ - Opening Chorus and Recitative) [5:19]
3 Presto (Cantata BWV35 ‘Geist und Seele wird
verwirret’, Part II - Sinfonia) [3:34]
WILHELM KEMPFF 1895-1991
4 Keyboard Concerto in F minor, BWV1056: II. Largo [3:48]
5 ‘Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ’ - Chorale Prelude,
BWV639 ‘Es ist gewißlich an der Zeit’ [2:25]
6 Chorale, BWV307 [0:55]
7 Chorale Prelude, BWV734 [1:31]
8 ‘Wohl mir, daß ich Jesum habe’ / ‘Jesus
bleibet meine Freude’ - Chorale from Cantata BWV147 ‘Herz und
Mund und Tat und Leben’ [2:57]
CARL TAUSIG 1841-1871
9 ‘Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schöpfer’
- Chorale Prelude, BWV680 [2:24]
ANONYMOUS, 19th century
10 Cantata BWV182 ‘Himmelskönig, sei willkommen’:
Sonata (Grave. Adagio) [2:15]
11 Cantata BWV42 ‘Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats’:
Sinfonia [7:08]
CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN 1813-1888
12 Flute Sonata in E-flat major, BWV1031: II. Siciliano [1:52]
HAROLD BAUER 1873-1951
13 Cello Suite No. 6, BWV1012: V. Gavotte I & II [3:57]
14 Cello Suite No. 1, BWV1007: V. Minuetto I & II [4:11]
FERRUCCIO BUSONI 1866-1924
15 Toccata in C major, BWV564: II. Adagio (‘Intermezzo’)
[4:09]
16 ‘Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland’ - Chorale
Prelude, BWV659 [4:52]
MAX REGER 1873-1916
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV565
17 Toccata [3:26]
18 Fugue [6;51]
CD 3
GIUSEPPE MARTUCCI 1856-1909
1 Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV1068: II. Air [6:11]
2 Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV1067: VI. Menuet [1:26]
3 Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV1067: VII. Badinerie [1:49]
WILLIAM GILLIES WHITTAKER 1876-1944
Pastorella, BWV590
4 I. ‘Allegretto e tranquillo’ [2:16]
5 II. ‘Moderato’ [4:11]
6 III. ‘Andante cantabile e espressivo’ [2:48]
7 IV. ‘Allegro’ [3:46]
TIVADAR SZÁNTÓ 1876-1953
Prelude and Fugue in G minor, BWV535
8 I. Prelude (‘Adagio e religioso’) [3:45]
9 II. Fugue (‘Andante ma non troppo’) [5;26]
ANTONY GRAY
10 ‘Letzte Stunde, brich herein’ - Aria from Cantata
BWV31 ‘Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret’ [5:12]
JUDITH WEIR b.1954
11 Roll off the Ragged Rocks of Sin (arranged from the aria
‘Wer bist du? Frage dein Gewissen, from Cantata BWV132 ‘Bereitet
die Wege, bereitet die Bahn’) [3:49]
EARL WILD 1915-2010
12 Hommage à Poulenc (arranged from Keyboard Partita No. 1 in
B-flat major, BWV825: IV. Sarabande) [3:54]
FRANÇOIS SARHAN b.1972
Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV846 13
13. Prelude [1:45]
14 Fugue [0:58]
MICHAEL BLAKE b.1951
15 BWV Fragments [0:58]
16 Oh Clare (arranged from ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s
Desiring’ - Chorale from Cantata BWV147 ‘Herz und Mund und Tat
und Leben’, as arranged by Myra Hess) [3:32]
MICHAEL FINNISSY b.1946
17 Joh. Seb. Bach [3:33]
FRANK MILLWARD
18 Crucifixion Blues (arranged from Mass in B minor, BWV232:
‘Crucifixus’) [3;32]
ANDREW TOOVEY b.1962
19 Cantus Firmus [1:49]
SALLY MAYS
20 ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’ - Chorale from St
Matthew Passion, BWV244 [3:33]
ANDREW SCHULTZ b.1960
21 Sleepers Wake - Karalananga - from Journey to Horseshoe Bend
[5:31]
GABRIEL JACKSON b.1962
22 Carillon: In Dulci Jubilo [1:19]
