in G Minor; Partita No. 1 in B Minor; Sonata No. 2 in A Minor; Partita
No. 2 in D Minor; Sonata No. 3 in C; Partita No. 3 in E – Julia
Fischer, violin – PentaTone multichannel SACD (2 discs) PTC 5186 072,
73:08, 76:52, ****:
Some might feel that it is presumptuous for this comely 21-year-old
German violinist to be so soon setting down her interpretations of the
most important works for solo violin by the grand master of
communicating entire musical worlds via only a single unaccompanied
instrument. It turns out Fischer has been playing Bach on her violin
daily since she was nine and performed the entire Bach solo violin
cycle publicly in the Bach Year 2000. She admits in both her note
booklet essay and in the short video which accompanied the SACDs for
reviewers that at age 13 she discovered Glenn Gould’s unconventional
Bach interpretations and has been a fan of them ever since.
Incidently, she also revealed in the DVD that she was as adept on the
piano as the vioilin and performs professionally on both.
Those concerned hearing about the eccentric Gould style with Bach
needn’t fear anything bizarre in Fischer’s performances on her l750
Guadagnini violin. She shows great maturity in her playing and a
gorgeous rich tone that doesn’t lack for finesse and beautiful
phrasing. The famous Chaconne of the Second Partita is by far the
longest movement of all six works, and while it may not be quite up to
the Szeryng level it stands on its own, especially in the satiny,
lucious sonics provided by PentaTone. The instrument does sound
larger than life and switching to the two-channel mix drops out the
feeling of being in the hall with the performer without reducing the
size of the instrument. Raising the level of the center channnel
and dropping the level to the L and R front channels does give a more
realistic size to Fischer’s violin.
– John Sunier