J. S. BACH: Complete Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas; BRICE PAUSET: Contrapartita – David Grimal, violin – Naïve Ambrosie AM 181 (2 CDs + 1 DVD), 151:03 ***[Distr. by Naxos]:
Grimal uses a 1710 Stradivarius with metal strings, tuned to perfect fifths. I was frustrated at first; the first two sonatas and first partita sounded extraordinarily willful and capricious to me, with little rhyme or reason as to why the performer decided to take his particular path. I was lost—there simply seemed no particular logic to what he had decided to do. By the time the second partita rolled around, I was beginning to be slightly persuaded. When the great Chaconne was over, I was convinced of his vision even if I was not sold on his concept. In other words, Mr. Grimal was able to persuade me of the uniqueness and validly of his visualization of these works without my necessarily having to buy into them as the ultimate interpretative expressions of these seminal pieces. They still sound very different to me, after several hearings. I cannot fathom why he does some things apart from the fact that he just likes them; but when a performer is as sincere in his presentation as Grimal is here, that earnestness is able to convince many who might otherwise reject the approach.
The playing is richly burnished and features a gorgeously robust and darkened tone. I found myself in certain passages forgetting about Bach’s music and concentrating solely on the sound of the violin, seductive and absolutely fulfilling. Grimal also leads the Orfeo Quartet, and I am convinced that this chamber music experience allows him to present the complex weave of Bach’s solo instrument counterpoint to dialog with itself. This is lovingly presented and recorded in spectacular sound. It will never be a first choice, but I can see myself returning to it more often than I might expect.
But Bach is not alone on this release. Grimal asked composer Brice Pauset to write a piece that was reflective of and inspired by these works. The result is something almost insulting to Bach; the music is silly, almost anti-musical in its essence and a real disservice to the recording in general as the movements are interspersed between the sonatas and partitas, with the only way of getting it out by reprogramming the disc, something I am not going to be bothered with. Why artists of otherwise superb temperament and talent consistently make such egregious and willfully anti-consumer programming decisions is beyond me. Even if one takes another view of Pauset’s music than me, even if one decides that one loves it, we are still stuck with these performances having to be played together, and that is a shame. For that reason alone I cannot give this release more than three stars—it should have been five.
The enclosed DVD has a film that features Grimal playing the Partita No. 2 in d, nicely shot with Grimal playing superbly. The sound is also excellent. What a shame the Pauset ruins it all. For those needing more conventional readings, Grimaux on Philips and St. John in wonderful surround on Ancalogon are hard to beat.
— Steven Ritter
