This release is a delight from beginning to end, bringing together a
substantial collection of Bach’s Italian or Italianate works for
keyboard via Andrea Bacchetti’s impeccable touch in the favoured
Fazioli Concert hall in Sacile. Luca Ciammarughi’s substantial booklet
notes ably place these works in context, outlining the wider cultural
integration occurring in the 1600s, the circumstances which were likely to
have brought particular works to Bach’s attention and his long-term
interest in music from Frescobaldi to Vivaldi and others.
The
Capriccio sulla lontanaza del suo fratello diletissimo or
‘on the Departure of his Beloved Brother’ is an excellent place
to start, with its beautiful opening
Arioso and stunningly emotive
Adagiosissimo third movement. My comparison with these performances
comes from the big Bach box of
Angela Hewitt, and it is interesting to hear how her
more objective performance of this work creates an atmosphere more of quiet
reflection than of heartrending grief. Bacchetti is three minutes longer
overall in this piece, including that
Adagiosissimo at 4:35 to
Hewitt’s 3:17. Those descending chromatic lines are sustained much
more by Bacchetti, creating and emphasising dissonance where Hewitt saves
most of her emotional weight for a louder final section. Bacchetti packs
some quite angry emotion into the
Recitativo or perhaps better titled
Introduction, and is slower and less playful with the horn calls of
the
Aria di Postiglione. I greatly enjoy the character Bacchetti
gives to this piece, and in the end there are no winners or losers in any of
these comparisons - just fascinating contrasts of view and approach.
The
Aria Variata alla maniera italiana is given a very fine
performance here, the opening
Aria viewed with fairly broad
expressiveness, contrasts of articulation ranging from Glenn-Gould spikiness
to flowing and expressive lyricism. Angela Hewitt is a strong competitor in
this piece, but I like the sense of urbane bonhomie which Bacchetti find in
these variations, keeping our spirits up with sparks of wit amongst the
sensitive regret and nostalgia elsewhere.
There are one or two surprises, such as the opening
Allegro
of the
Concerto I, which Bacchetti takes at a statelier pace than one
would normally expect. At this speed the movement achieves animation through
its running figures, but Bacchetti’s variation of touch in the
repeated phrases and consistency with those noble harmonic progressions is
pretty convincing. The opening repeated chords of the
Larghetto might
appear rather imperious, but Bacchetti reserves the softer touch for the
movement’s inner lyricism, the opening and its reprises more a call to
attention than a sinuous introduction. The beauty of the central
Adagio of
Concerto III is sublime in this performance,
gorgeously restrained but fizzing with subtle anticipation and constantly
evolving surprise.
The
Concerto Italiano BWV 971 sounds as if it comes from the
same session as the opening
Capriccio, with the piano set further
away from the microphones and within a more cavernous acoustic as a result.
This takes nothing away from a fine performance and indeed another fine
recording, with plenty of lively sparkle in the outer movements, and a
central
Andante with plenty of poise and elegance. Angela Hewitt is a
little more sprightly in the opening
Allegro and arguably creates a
more timeless impression in the central
Andante, but with qualitative
honours about even I like both performances.
The two Bach-Busoni
arrangements which conclude bring us back into a warmer sonic mix, but a
little drier than the
Aria and
Concerto transcriptions. With
their Busoni association there is no real reason not to have these pieces
here, though with their added bass weight and heavy Church melodies they sit
a little uneasily amongst the Mediterranean freshness of the other works.
Bacchetti’s touch is more organ-like here, which is appropriate to the
chorales, and the sustain and low colours of his fine Fazioli instrument are
nicely demonstrated.
Altogether this is another very fine release to add to an already
notable discography by Andrea Bacchetti: perhaps a bit of a mixed bag in
terms of the sessions as they’ve been put together, but by no means in
a way which detracts from fine playing and superbly considered performances.
Dominy Clements
