This Bach recital
may interest a collector who isn’t particularly
wanting to have all the English
Suites or Partitas - an expensive proposition
- but is happy to ‘dip’ into this very
extensive repertory. It may also be
attractive to anyone who likes to track
the progress of young artists, for Ms
Crossland is, despite my misgivings,
definitely a player to watch.
It may be a cliché
to say so, but Bach is a difficult composer
to play on the piano. Absolute control
and dexterity is required for such ornate
and exposed lines: left hand parts in
particular require exceptional agility,
of a sort one seldom encounters in the
core Romantic repertory. It’s important
to be aware of performance practice
in Bach’s time, and to know how to steer
a course between the resonance of the
modern piano and the percussive sonority
of the harpsichord, between overstatement
and under-characterisation. Small wonder
that celebrated Bach players (one thinks
of Fischer, Lipatti, Gould, Richter,
Gavrilov, Brendel, Argerich, Schiff,
Perahia and Goode) often move into this
repertory in their maturity, having
previously explored more overtly virtuosic
or demanding roles elsewhere - like
serving an apprenticeship! Hewitt is
the obvious exception here, having made
her reputation in Bach, and now ‘progressing’
into Ravel and Chopin.
Jill Crossland was
born in Yorkshire, and studied at Chethams
and the Royal Northern College of Music
in Manchester. Even as a student, it
seems she inclined towards Bach, performing
the entire ‘48’ from memory, winning
the Pinsen Prize for her Bach playing,
and reaching the semi-final stages of
the 8th International Bach Competition
in Leipzig. The CD liner doesn’t tell
us how old she is.
I have no doubts concerning
her abilities: her fingerwork is polished,
her sense of phrase beyond question,
and she is well able to characterise
the different dance movements, or the
many meanderings of the Chromatic Fantasia.
The opening movements (the Prelude,
Allemande and Courante) of
the English Suite are stylish and secure,
and confidently raise one’s expectations.
But I have to say I found at least some
of what follows less than convincing,
and at times so artistically doubtful
as to be baffling, even bizarre. The
Sarabande of the same suite (which
she takes slowly) finds her introducing
rubato in such quantities, and
in both voices, as to disturb the pulse:
at first, it looked likely to be subtle,
but it soon reached unnecessary and
destructive proportions. But the singing
quality of her playing encourages the
listener to stay with her.
She plays the Præludium
of the B flat Partita extraordinarily
slowly: I’m open-minded about these
things, but I’d be hard pressed to find
any evidence that Bach intended it to
go like this! And yet the Allemande
and Corrente are beautifully
fluid. In the Sarabande, again,
very slow, the right hand semiquavers
and demisemiquavers are so seldom left
to speak for themselves, and so often
distorted with little holdings-up and
rushings (in the name of shaping?) as
to spoil all sense of line: one almost
loses one’s bearings. But again, she
redeems herself with a mercurial Gigue.
This disc is the proverbial
curate’s egg: very good in parts,
and thought-provoking (make of that
what you want) in others. I hope Ms
Crossland will find a way of allowing
Bach’s music to speak for itself, without
undue interference: and yet much of
this disc shows that she already knows
this. I suggest that lessons with Angela
Hewitt or Richard Goode (their CDs will
surely suffice) are called for!
The recorded sound
here is good: appropriately, for what
the CD booklet tells us is an ‘Astounding
Sounds’ recording. Annoying that both
inner and outer pages of the notes list
the items of this recital in a different
sequence to that she actually adopts:
so the D major Toccata is
last, not first!
There shouldn’t be
any problem obtaining this CD, which
is distributed worldwide by the Divine
Art Record Company in Northallerton:
you can get full details from www.divine-art.com.
You’ll also find there details of Ms
Crossland’s previous Calico Classics
disc (CCCR101) of Mozart (K533/494 in
F) and Beethoven (Op 31/2 in D minor
& Op 101 in A flat) sonatas.
She’s also recorded the Goldberg
Variations for Apex - 0927 49979-2.
Peter J Lawson
see also
Johann
Sebastian BACH
(1685 - 1750)
Goldberg
Variations, BWV 988 
Jill Crossland, piano Rec: April 1998,
Vestry Hall Studios, Ealing, UK
WARNER APEX 0927 49979 2 [73.11] [KM]
An
idiosyncratic recording that may interest
the curious
