Customer Reviews

Pisendel: Violin Sonatas /Steck * Rieger

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Steck and Rieger are former Musica Antiqua Köln members. I enjoyed the recording... one sonata has been recorded by others as a Bach work.

Steck does a reasonable job; I disagree with the other comment - this music is hard! Especially so the solo material.

I found an uneven recorded quality between tracks. For those with lesser sound quality, those tracks suffer. Compare the first track with the next sonata... hear the difference?

I read once that Bach was influenced by Pisendel's violin works. So when I found this cd in the clearance bin at a local cd store I didn't hesitate to snap it up while I could! Compared with Bach's (unaccompanied) solo violin works, Pisendel's (w/harpsichord) are much more "sprightly" and lively. That might sound strange since 4/5 of them are in a minor key but minor key doesn't have to mean sadness. There are exceptions (Bach's partita #3), but I would say as a rule that Bach's solo violin works are more serious (doesn't mean boring) than Pisendel's. As for the playing, it sounds fine; I don't have another recording to compare this one with but the two musicians sound very good together. The music doesn't sound like it's difficult to play, which is a good thing. If you like the violin works of Uccellini, Tartini, Bach, Corelli I would say there's a good chance you'll like this recording very much. I think Pisendel would fit right in with that crew. I like this Pisendel stuff better than a lot of Corelli's & Uccellini's violin works though.