Comparison recordings
Concerto BWV 1043: Ayo, Michelucci,
I Musici. ADD Philips 426 075-2
Concertos BWV 1043, 1052R, and 1056R:
Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zuckerman, Barenboim,
[ADD] ECO EMI CDC 47856-2
Concerto BWV 1052R: Karl Suske, Max
Pommer, Leipzig Musicum Collegium, Capriccio
"1 plus" 51051.
Concerto BWV 1056R: Isabelle Faust,
Helmut Rilling, Bach Collegium Stuttgart
Hänssler CD 92.138.
Don’t be afraid of
the name Szigeti. The Z is silent; rhyme
it with the ‘etti’ of "spaghetti".
The star of this disk
is the Bach d minor concerto,
an instant sensation upon its release,
forming the backbone of any 78rpm Bach
collection, and never long out of print
since then. This restoration is from
12" 78rpm commercial release disks.
But in 1940 American Columbia was starting
to record masters on 16" acetate
disks which allowed a longer continuous
playing time in a single take. If this
recording is from one of those masters,
it would partially account for the continuous
sound of this performance, a strenuous
perpetuum mobile by the violin
who in this work can never for a second
merge into the ripieno for a
rest, in contrast with the numbered
Bach solo violin concerti. Perhaps some
day we may have direct from Sony a true
ADD restoration of this recording from
the original 16" acetate master
if one exists.
Comparison of the 1936
version of the slow movement from BWV
1056R with the 1954 version shows Szigeti
in the later version paying a lot more
attention to what has since become known
as original performance practice. The
1937 performance is a 19th Century version,
in the original key of the keyboard
concerto, played by the strings only
with "expression" at a slow
tempo; the 1954 version would not be
out of place today, with authentic ornamentation,
restored key signature, and harpsichord
continuo.
The first movement
of the Tartini concerto has a rich lyrical
mood with the usual "nostalgic"
sense imputed to music of this period
when played in 19th century Romantic
concerto style; it sounds odd to us
now, forcing this Classical concerto
into an anachronistic aesthetic. The
slow movement is, as expected, very
slow, and very sweet. Szigeti sounds
somewhat baffled by the last movement,
never quite figuring out how it should
go, but trying to avoid too steady a
beat. The harpsichord is nicely forward
throughout.
Perlman gives us modern,
emotional performances with clear respect
for the original aesthetic, perhaps
the best stylistic compromise between
old and new for this music, although
with works recorded as often as these,
everyone will have favourite performances.
The Ayo/Michelucci recording is a living
fossil, a true 19th century version,
with waves of throbbing passion, a delicious,
lingering ecstasy of sound. That might
not have been quite what Bach had in
mind, but even he would have been drying
his eyes at the end of the slow movements.
This is a rare, precious look at the
way it was in 1875. Not for everyone:
the Gramophone critic, his head
stuck way up his authenticity, was viciously
contemptuous when this CD issue appeared,
so you may have trouble finding the
disk, but it’s worth any effort to obtain.
Probably the very best
and most convincing performance ever
done of BWV 1052R, in modern digital
sound and thoroughly authentic, idiomatic
style is by Karl Suske and Max Pommer
conducting the Neues Bachiches Collegium
Musicum of Leipzig on Capriccio "1
plus." Likewise for BWV 1056R,
Isabelle Faust and Helmut Rilling shine
brightly for us on Hänssler Classics.
*The letter "R"
means "restored." Only librarians
and musicologists will be interested
in the historical reasons why BWV 1052R
does not have a BWV number all its own
in the 104X series, even though it is
actually no less authentic than "BWV
1062R," which is known to us in
Rust’s transposed transcription as BWV
1043, as published in the BGA. BWV 1056R
is a bit longer of a shot, but probably
no less authentic, the question here
being whether perhaps it was really
an oboe concerto rather than a violin
concerto.
Paul Shoemaker
see also review
by Jonathan Woolf
Recorded: EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England,
6 December 1937 ADD 
