Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Concerto for oboe, violin and strings, BWV1060R [12:59]
Violin Concerto No.2 in E, BWV1042 [15:52]
Cantata BWV21 Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis: Sinfonia [2:41]
Violin Concerto No.1 in a minor, BWV1041 [13:26]
Concerto for two violins in d minor, BWV1043 [14:31]
Cecilia Bernardini (violin), with Alfredo Bernardini (oboe, BWV1060R) and
Huw Daniel (violin, BWV1043)
Dunedin Consort/John Butt
rec. Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, 17-20 November 2014. DDD/DSD
LINN CKD519 [59:29]
Reviewed as a download from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3, 16- and 24-bit lossless, with pdf booklet). Also available from linnrecords.com
(as above plus 24/192 and SACD).
‘Bach Violin Concertos’ can mean many different things: in
this case the two solo concertos and the double with the reconstructed violin-and-oboe
version of BWV1060. That’s a very different programme than, for example,
on Alina Ibragimova’s recent recording with Arcangelo for Hyperion of the
two conventional solo concertos plus plausible reconstructions of BWV1052,
1055 and 1056 (CDA68068 – review).
The Hyperion gives a slightly more generous coupling than the new Linn recording
but it leaves you without the Double Concerto. The Linn programme is more
conventional: the classic Arthur Grumiaux recording, with Herman Krebbers
in the Double Concerto and Heinz Holliger on BWV1060R, still a clear recommendation
among modern-instrument versions, offers exactly the same programme. (Decca
4207002, mid-price).
Among outstanding period-instrument versions Masaaki Suzuki, with soloists
and the Bach Collegium of Japan also offers the same combination on a very
fine recording (BIS-CD-961).
Cecilia Bernardini may be less famous than Alina Ibragimova. She’s the leader
of the Dunedin Consort and leads and directs other modern- and period-instrument
groups, rather than a well-known soloist, but that’s not necessarily a disadvantage
in performing the Bach concertos where the violinist is more a first among
equals than a showy virtuoso. I very much enjoyed hearing her contribution
to this recording and I need hardly add that she receives first-rate support
from John Butt and the other members of the Consort.
For a comparative version of BWV1041 I listened to the Grumiaux recording.
Surprisingly for a modern-instrument version first released on LP in 1978
there’s little to choose in terms of tempo and, more importantly, overall
impression and communication between that and the new Linn recording. Perhaps
that’s partly due to the fact that another violinist, Arpad Gerecz, was directing
and that the Solistes Romands, otherwise unrepresented in the current catalogue,
rose to the occasion. The sound is a little shrill – no match for the Linn
– but otherwise it’s a credit to Bernardini and her supporters that she offers,
if not quite a modern classic to sit beside the Grumiaux, something just as
stylish.
The opening movement of BWV1060R starts in sprightly fashion without sounding
breakneck: if anything both it and the adagio are taken slightly more
steadily than on most recent recordings, such as Lars Ulrik Mortensen with
Concerto Copenhagen (CPO). The first movement is almost as slow as and the
adagio slightly slower than the now classic Teldec recording which
forms part of the USB complete Bach Edition (2564661127: Recording of the
Month – review),
still available and good value at around £165 for the equivalent of over 150
CDs. Things have moved on since that older recording, one of the earliest
on period instruments, was made and, good as it is and only seconds slower,
it sounds a little four-square by comparison with the Edinburgh team. Alfredo
Bernardini in the oboe part also contributes in no small way to the success
of the new performance.
The 1973 Teldec recording features Alice Harnoncourt as the violin soloist,
with Jürg Schaeftlein (oboe), Walter Pfeiffer as second violinist in the Double
Concerto and the Concentus Musicus directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The
slight squareness of the opening of BWV1060R is compensated for by a brisk
but affectionate account of the slow movement but the finale again shows signs
of the Harnoncourt manner in a jaunty but slightly over-emphatic performance.
I know that many listeners dislike that manner but for me it’s a more than
acceptable way of performing these concertos. I still turn with enjoyment
to these performances of BWV1041-3, though I can see why many are unable to
take the heavy ‘bulges’ in the reconstructed BWV1056R which completes the
programme.
Walter Pfeiffer is a very worthwhile second soloist on Teldec but Huw Daniel
also gives a very fine performance on the new recording. The classic account
of the Double Concerto came from the Oistrakhs, father and son on DG, still
available on Originals 4474272 (2 CDs), Regis RRC1408 – review
– and even on vinyl (DG 4795117). Their rapport is something very special
but Bernardini and Daniel are hardly far behind.
On BIS, with Natsumi Wakamatsu supporting Ryo Terakado in the Double Concerto,
the opening of the first movement sounds a little hurried at first but the
pace soon settles down, though overall the tempo is a little faster than on
Linn. The second movement on BIS is a shade slow – leaning more to the largo
marking than to the ma non tanto qualification. I can’t complain when
the result is so beautiful – more than usual this movement reminds me of the
Handel ‘largo’ – but the new Linn seems to me to strike a more apt pace.
Much as I like the BIS recording, the Dunedin team seem to have the advantage.
Alice Harnoncourt and Walter Pfeiffer stress the largo even more at
7:06 (BIS 6:44; Linn 6:18).
If I say that Butt’s way with Bach is far less controversial than Harnoncourt’s,
that should not be taken to mean that these performances are bland. I’m slightly
less bowled over than by his recordings of the Magnificat and Christmas
Cantata (CKD469: Recording of the Month – review
– review:
also one of my Recordings of the Year), the b-minor Mass (CKD354 – Download
Roundup July 2010) and the St John Passion (CKD419: Recording of the Month
– review)
but not by much. The only reason why I have not considered this for Recording
of the Month is that it doesn’t cast quite as much new light on the music
as those earlier Linn releases or the new Brilliant Classics Vivaldi Op.8,
a very special performance of The Four Seasons and the other concertos
of Il Cimento dell’armonia e dell’invenzione (95045, 2 CDs at super-budget
price: Recording of the Month – review).
The Teldec recording (last seen on 8.44014) is no longer available separately,
even as a download, but it does point up one shortcoming on the Linn recording,
which runs for less than an hour as against 73 minutes for the Teldec. That’s
why I downloaded the new album in the 16-bit format, though I could easily
have obtained the 24-bit as a review copy. The 16-bit sounds fine and is
reasonably priced at £10: £18.00 for the 24-bit does seem excessive when the
equivalent SACD is likely to sell for £13 from Linn, or less from some dealers.
On past experience it should outshine even the 16-bit which I reviewed.
Grumbles about pricing apart, which affect only the download not the SACD
equivalent, this is as good a way as any to get to know these wonderful concertos
and a worthy successor to John Butt’s earlier recordings of Bach with the
Dunedin Consort. To prefer them overall to Masaaki Suzuki and his team on
BIS and to Arthur Grumiaux on Decca, however slightly, is indeed high praise.
Brian Wilson
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