Customer Reviews

J.S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1006

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I never thought this young violinist could play Bach in such a matured way. My version at home was Milstein, Szegeti, Kremer (not very good), and Grumiaux. But Julia Fischer's Bach has won so much praise and I just wonder why. Therefore I bought this pricy double SACD (no ordinary CD available).

I was surprised. It doesn't sound like she is young at all. According to Fisher, she played Bach every day. And she has been studying Bach since she was a little girl. No wonder she has attended to the details of it. The speed she took was relatively slow, especially for the Preludes and Sarabande. Her technique was impeccable, but it all sounded so natural. I once listened to Heifitz and I didn't quite like it. It sounded not like Bach. Fisher surely captured the elegance and warmth of one of Bach's most intelligent and intellectual works.

If you like Bach's Unaccompanied Sonata and Partita for Solo Violin, buy this. You won't regret. The recording quality was superb, too!

I recommend this recording without reservation- it's clean, informed, and well recorded. Fischer is obviously a first class player with an emotional attack- her bowing arm is formidable, and I mean that in a good way: it never took me out of the music, and frequently added to the effect and performance of the more overtly emotional segments of the works.

This recording joins Hilary Hahn's as my favorite of the recent recordings of the Bach solo violin pieces, and shares many of the same performance characteristics. As a side note to anyone who owns the audiophile gear necessary to take advantage of SACD discs, the recent releases by Pentatone are absolutely outstanding sonically and highly highly recommended.

Hands down, this is *the* BEST version of Bach's "Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin" that I have heard. Let me explain.

I love Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin. I own albums by various artists. They are (along with my grade): Milstein (B), Heifetz (C), Grumiaux (B+), Perlman (B+), Szeryng (A), St John (D), Podger (A-), Hahn (A-).

Now until Fischer, Szeryng was my favorite. He had excellent tone, good technique, and very good dynamics. But Fischer blew me away. She had excellent tone, good technique, and excellent dynamics. If you want more of a baroque interpretation, go with Podger, but if tone, technique, and dynamics are what appeal to you then Fischer is definitely the album to get.

Miscellaneous: This is a Hybrid SACD. I wasn't sure it would play on my "vanilla" CD player, and when I asked the salesmen, they had no idea (typical salesmen, eh?). Anyway, it turns out that it does indeed play, so don't let the SACD label scare you away.

Also, this comes with a DVD--an interview and some playing snippets from the session. The DVD is quite short, about 15 minutes or so.

Finally, this set is a bit pricey, but I think it's worth every penny!

In the liner notes, Ms. Fischer writes about three Bach experiences,she puts, "which have decisively shaped my interpretation of Bach."; Attendance in a violin class given by Yehudi Menuhin,watching Gould/Brenboim playing Bach in the documentary film 'The Art of Piano', and enchantment with Busoni's arrangement of Ciaccona for solo piano.
Her admitted fascination for Glenn Gould may give you a gentle hint about her approach to these works. Yes, she plays with her own vision but without eccentricity. She knows Bach is not just notes on papers. Her playing has spontaneity and elegant feel and doesn't sound forced, clumsy, inconsistent or fragmented. Her sensible phrasing, palette-like tone, and great use of dynamics and voicing make one listening to smile with joy. And she brings out implied beauty which many others missed out.
This one has many highlights ; Adagio(to Sonata in C minor), Preludio(to Sonata in E), majestic Ciaconna(to Partita in D minor) etc. Cioconna is played in stately manner without losing drive and it shows influence of Busoni's piano arrangment of the piece. (She have been playing the piano since she was 4.) She avoids using Romantic style vibrato. Projected tone is pure and clear. Her tone is not constricted by her violin. She produces more than what the violin can. For example, listen to how she plays the last bar of Preludio(to Sonata in E). Last note will be lingering on your mind forever. I've never heard better playing. And listen to Corrente (to Partita in D minor), her tone from the lower register is as grand as it can be.

If you don't have any recording of these works and want an audiophile recording, buy this one. And even if you have those of Milstein, Grumiaux or more recently Podger, this will be a nice addition to your library. Highly recommanded. Surely will amuse any nitpick person.

trivia:
*Her violin is a Guadagnini from 1750. In an interview with Strings magazine, she told it has "the most beautiful G string ever in my life." you'll agree on that with her.
*It was recorded in a church. Sonority adds brightness to the sound making it sound less harsher. Reverb is not excessive as in Perlman's and doesn't sound artificial as in Ehnes'.

(additional note)
In her recent Bach Concertos (DECCA) CD booklet, she reveals more about her approach to playing Bach. She says "I'm not an 'authentic' player - we are playing for people of the twenty-first century, not the eighteenth century - but equally I am not putting Bach into Romantic context, which I dislike as well."
You have been informed. :)

Bach's unaccompanied sonatas and partitas for solo violin can act as multiple litmus tests, mercilessly revealing a player's cultural, temperamental, intellectual, and technical selves. That is certainly the case with Julia Fischer's set. It shows her to be technically proficient and thoughtful in regard to the structures and, to some degree, the expressive (affective) content of these works. But it also tells the world that she is still a young artist, and that she may have more to say about this music -- and the temerity to say it -- after she's been around a while longer.

Listeners contemplating the purchase of yet another Bach Unaccompanied set will also have to look to their own tastes in deciding whether Fischer fits the bill. Have you long since acquired, and exhausted, the classic Milstein performances? Did you find Perlman nicely polished, or just a bit too slick? Did you respond well to Kremer's impetuosity and drama, or consider his approach overly rough and improvisatory?

In the liner notes, Ms. Fischer tells us that for years she has warmed up every day with these pieces. It shows. She is obviously familiar with them, and her technical security and sense of "what comes next" have benefited. But with familiarity comes a certain complacency, and warmups can encourage a performer to emphasize sheer mechanics: pitch accuracy, evenly smooth bowing, perfect finger coordination, etc. That is what I personally hear as a guiding principle in most of these interpretations. They are soft-edged, maintaining steady tempi, using the middle third of the bow, employing subtle and consistent accents, phrasing, and dynamic emphases.

Nothing wrong with those choices. In many aspects, they may lie closer than some others to what Bach had in mind. But I found myself respecting Fischer's efforts rather than becoming involved in the music itself. In the end I went back to Hilary Hahn's debut disc (which includes some but not all of these works) in order to hear controlled and thoughtful Bach performances with more passion, more bite (bowing at the frog when needed), and more overall humanity.

The SACD recording is quite good, but if anything it emphasizes the mellow, moderated quality of these performances with a violin timbre that is never unpleasant but seldom provides the range of colors that one might hope to hear, even in Bach. Especially in Bach?

I think Ms. Fischer is heard to better advantage in her Pentatone recording of the Russian concertos -- maybe she didn't feel a "Romantic" approach was as appropriate for Baroque music. The result sounds curiously old-fashioned, however, especially given the recent tendency in historically informed Baroque performance to emphasize drama and individualistic expression (e.g., Rachel Podger, Andrew Manze). By comparison, Julia Fischer's Bach comes off as a careful effort by a recent conservatory graduate. Still worth hearing, but perhaps more as an emblem of her undeniable promise.

You must listen to this with SACD kit to do justice to the recording. OK CD layer is not too bad but with sensitive equipment you can hear so much more with the SACD it is unbelievable.
She is one of the best performers of Bach solo pieces if not the best. Milstein, Kagan, Grumiaux, Perlman are good. But she is something else. Timing, fluidity, expression I can go on and on. This is the most "musical" interpretation of these pieces I have heard so far.

I simply love this music. No-one wrote solo pieces like Bach. In fact it was Hilary Hahn's debut recording of Bach that ushered in a personal renaissance for me in terms of listening to classical music. I've read at least one reviewer complaining of the romantic style with which Fischer affects these pieces. Her romantic interpretation is precisely why I enjoy these discs so much. I heard her recording of Bach concertos on Decca and I was blown away. I immediately did some research on Fischer and I was very impressed with what I found. In both the concertos and the sonatas & partitas, gone is the dry, staid feeling that I feel a traditional interpretation of Bach can produce. Fischer has the credentials and the ability to infuse a lot of personal taste into these works. She has said that she keeps in mind that she is playing for a modern audience. She is not afraid to treat music as a living, breathing phenomenon of the present moment.

The sound on these discs is excellent. It's intimate, and a slight echo gives me more of a sense of space than I hear on the other recordings of these works that I have. Now, when I have a hankering for a more traditional reading, I have no problem taking Hahn's debut from the shelf and giving it a spin. But in the early morning, when I crave solo Bach that is not very sharp or brittle, it is these recordings (or Casal's cello suites) that I reach for. I had the privilege and honor of seeing Fischer perform the partitas in Aspen last summer, and of shaking her hand after the show. Thank you Julia, for these beautiful recordings and for that wonderful opportunity! I don't know about the rest of you, but I listen to music to improve the quality of my life; these recordings continue to help me do that.

In March I heard Julia Fischer playing Khachaturian's violin concerto at a concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. She is such a wonderful violinist that soon after I got home I checked what other performance of hers would be available from Amazon. When I saw this CD I promptly ordered it. Because on this CD she plays without an orchestra, her virtuosity is even more obvious and superb than in the concertos where she is accompanied by a full orchestra. I recommend this CD to everybody who likes the violin music of J.S.Bach!

This recording of the Bach Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin is my introduction to the artistry of Julia Fischer and I could not be more pleased. These are exquisite performances with immpeccable technique. What a wonderful tone Fischer achieves on this two cd set! Her readings are thoughtful, purposeful & brimming with a depth of feeling far beyond what I might have expected from the young violinist (technique is, quite often, easier to come by than insight.) The SACD Hybrid sound is immaculate, absolutely pristine in every way. These are performances very much worth having, which I recommend to anyone who enjoys fine violin recordings. Julia Fischer immediately joins Hilary Hahn as one of the finest of the lastest generation of virtuoso violinists!

These performances are played with poise and warmth, and project a high level of technical assurance. Interpretative, they are middle-of-the road. Not quite the rhythmic drive of Podger, not quite the velvety tone of Grumiaux. I don't think they will contain any revelations for someone who is already familiar with this music, but they would be a perfectly suitable set for someone who wants to discover this music.

For me the most noteworthy aspect of this set is the very fine sound provided by Pentatone. Just the right balance of direct sound and reverberation, and brilliant without becoming at all harsh, even in loudly played double or triple stops.