BACH: Partita No. 2 in d, BWV 1004; Sonata No. 3 in C, BWV 1005; Partita No. 3 in E, BWV 1006 – Isabelle Faust, solo violin – Harmonia mundi 902059, 68:57 ****:
Isabelle Faust has embarked on what must be volume one of the complete Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas of Bach, though the cover doesn’t indicate this; but knowing HM I would assume this to be the case. Faust is one of my favorite violinists today, so I looked forward to this with a lot of keen anticipation. I also decided to do a massive comparison of the great D-minor Partita (with the Chaconne) among all of my existing recordings. I have jettisoned a few of the so-called “greats” over the years, like the Milstein. But I still keep about 10 versions of this incomparable music.
The opening note of the D-minor disappointed me at first—Faust is too timid and cautious here, and to a degree this applies to the entire partita. Rarely have I heard such guarded playing, like walking on a sidewalk and trying to avoid the cracks. And the opening to my mind is not appropriate considering the ending, one of the great moments in violin history with the Chaconne—it should be bold and assertive, yet Faust sort of sneaks in the door, like a child who is spying on her parents in the downstairs room. Yet by the time we arrive at the Chaconne, she is in full struts, and turns in what might be the fastest time of all modern recordings, at 12:26, at least the fastest in my collection.
So here’s the rundown on the others. Janine Jansen and Rachel Barton Pine don’t really count, as they have not recorded all of the pieces, but their D-minor’s are exceptions, Jansen more overt and masculine sounding, while Barton Pine is more considered and intellectual. Both open this piece better than Faust. Arthur Grumiaux is bold par excellence, but also quite beautiful and exceptionally rigorous—not a lot of subtlety or point-making here. Lara St. John, still the best of the complete modern sets (and SACD as well), attacks with a vengeance, the way it should be done, and strikes a nice balance between period practice and traditional playing (Faust espouses very little vibrato here and generally sides with the HIP players). Rachel Podger is period practice all the way, but her 2002 recording is so resonance-laden that she sounds almost modern, with little room for nuance. Newcomer Alina Ibragimova (Hyperion) is still a work in progress, and seems a little uncertain as to how to come to this music, though there are transcendental moments in her D-minor. Viktoria Mullova sounds like she is playing in a squash court with the sound bouncing all over the place, and though her approach is also period-oriented her natural musicianship does carry the day, again bolder than most violinists. Brice Pauset goes for suavity all around—beauty of sound seems foremost in his mind, and he certainly achieves it, the unaccompanied works as demonstration music for the finer qualities of the violin.
Faust is a thinker, no mistake; her every move is based on some sort of cold hard calculation as to how this music should go, yet her playing does not sound calculated as such—its rigorous logic assails the intellect the way her sound has the ability to assail the senses. I think her D-minor the weakest of the set, though the middle three movements are sublime. The rest of the disc is fantastic; she really achieves a sense of radiant abandonment in the C-major Fuga, and her E-major is one of the best I have heard, gloriously rhythmic and crystalline in its melodic emphasis.
Thought the date given for this recording is 9/2009, and the studio listed as Teldex Berlin, the C-major and E-major works sound different that the D-minor, more resonant and livelier; why I am not sure. One caveat; Faust has that annoying habit of loud nasal breathing that a lot of string players have and should work hard to divest themselves of. [Might also have to do with the particular micing used…Ed.] It is captured in full fashion on these discs. Other than that, I look forward with great eagerness to the second volume of this series; it could be one to rival St. John, and that is saying a lot.
— Steven Ritter
