Customer Reviews

Complete Harpsichord Concertos

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
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This collection was first compiled in 1970 or so from recordings dating as far back as 1961. The set, now remastered and issued on cd, includes performances by three generations of harpsichordists, with Gustav Leonhardt providing the central focus. Leonhardt includes (in BWV 1060, 1062 and 1065) his former teacher from the Schola Cantorum in Basle, Eduard Mueller (the student modestly playing second harpsichord to his mentor in 1060 and 1065) while his own first-generation students Anneke Uittenbosch and Alan Curtis join him for BWV 1061, 1063-1065. Completing the quartet of soloists in BWV 1065 is the generation-before-Leonhardt Dutch harpsichordist, Janny van Waring. Another "star of the show" is Leonhardt's harpsichord, based on the J.D. Dulcken instruments of 1745, and built in 1962 by the great German harpsichord maker, Martin Skowroneck of Bremen. It was with this fine harpsichord (now owned by Bob van Asperen) that Leonhardt finally acquired an instrument which was worthy of his truly formidable gifts. In the same way that Landowska's playing was intimately connected with the sound of the Pleyel harpsichord which she used from 1912 to 1957, Leonhardt now had an easily identifiable "sound" of his own. It was used in the solo concerto recordings except for BWV 1057 & 1058 (which had already been recorded in 1961). In the two triple harpsichord concertos, Leonhardt is joined by Alan Curtis and Anneke Uittenbosch playing two more of Skowroneck's Dulcken models. Needless to say, the producer for all these recordings (and the guiding light of the "Das alte Werk" series) was the redoubtable Wolf Erichson.

Leonhardt's performances of six of the seven great solo concerti (BWV 1053-1058), plus his own reconstruction of an eighth (BWV 1059, of which only nine bars were written out by Bach - the rest was assembled by Leonhardt from the instrumental movements contained in Cantata BWV 35), are classics of the recorded harpsichord repertoire. It is true that they show their age in some ways (mostly due to the recording standards, especially in the 1961 recordings), but they still offer the listener the most direct and "authentic" available encounter with Bach's pre-eminent works. Great musicianship is timeless, and I'm sure that future generations of listeners will continue to draw inspiration from these great monuments of the "period instrument" revival. Good music (and music-making) is forever.

Those looking for Leonhardt's performance of the d minor solo concerto (BWV 1052) will not find it here (he recorded it both earlier and later, most recently for SEON). However the performance included here, by Herbert Tachezi, playing a magnificent Skowroneck Italian single manual harpsichord from 1957 (which belongs to Nikolaus Harnoncourt) with Concentus Musicus Wien, is just as great in its own way as Leonhardt's. Notice, in this performance, the "meantone" tuning of the harpsichord (and strings!). It's really beautiful, and beautifully recorded, too.

Younger generation listeners who have grown up with later versions of these works should do themselves a favour and go straight to the source. Gustav Leonhardt continues amongst us - a shining presence at the age of 74. These recordings will forever document the enormous debt which the world of "authentic performance" owes to him. These performances will never be bettered: perhaps, in time, equalled.

Mention should be made of the members of Leonhardt's ensemble, the Leonhardt-Consort, led by his wife, Marie. The string sound is unusually full-bodied for just single strings, and the energy and beauty of the performances are infectious. It's a pity that the present set doesn't include the great performance (with Frans Brueggen and Marie Leonhardt) of the a minor concerto for harpsichord, flute and violin (BWV 1044). And the engineers still haven't repaired the gross editing mistake in the third movement of BWV 1053, where bar 65 is spliced in twice! (Amazing that this hasn't been picked up by somebody - Leonhardt, perhaps?!). However, don't let these small caveats deter you from investigating this uniquely fine set. Like all the greatest old masters, this one's flaws merely remind us of its supremely commanding overall stature.
Strongest recommendation.

I think that Gustav Leonhardt is a fantastic harpsichord player. His interpretations feels fresh even today and there is a feeling of live-performance over these recordings which is very good and in some way relaxing for the music. Though the string-playing on old instruments wasn't so developed at the time of this recording it is still an highly enjoyable disc, mostly because of the baroque-genious Gustav Leonhardt!

Leonhardt, though an exquisite player, is not my favorite musical performer. Still, this album is definitely winning me over. Very conservative rhythmically compared to other current interpretations, but very fine. Lively energy and dumbfounding perfection in everyone's performance. I find myself listening to it over and over.

A pertinent fact missing from all of the posted reviews, and one worth considering, is that Harnoncourt chose to treat these concertos as chamber music, that is, rather than having a harpsichord soloist and a ripieno set of orchestral strings, he allots only one instrument per part (with the exception of the BWV 1052 D Minor Concerto). This "all Bach's music is really chamber music" approach was trendy for a while, culminating, perhaps, in Joshua Rifkin's eccentric recording of the Mass in B Minor, in which he assigned only one voice to a part instead of a chorus; and while this approach provides a great deal of clarity, it also robs the music of a richer ensemble sonority, which I miss. We know Baroque orchestras used more than one string instrument per line of music, so one has to wonder what justification there is for assuming that Bach rejected the conventional concerto configuration of his time. While these are highly interesting interpretations, and a fine complement to more conventional recordings, they cannot in any way be considered definitive.

although in the sixties this must have been an interesting issue,by now it's outdated both on sonic standards and somewhat chilled musicmaking;the tempi are often brisk and unrelenting,especially 1065 is excellent to work up a frenzy.