Bach's Keyboard concertos (harpsichord and piano versions)
A fine Bach concerto programme played on the harpsichord
The Gramophone Choice
Harpsichord Concertos Nos 1, 4, 5, & 7
Bertrand Cuiller hpd Stradivaria Ensemble / Daniel Cuiller vn
Mirare MIR085 (58’ · DDD). Buy from Amazon
This is an outstanding recital of Bach chamber-music playing in which four concertos bask in their own colours with a rare combination of infectious energy, quicksilver alertness among a single-string ensemble and not a hint of the affectedness which has blighted so many performances of these works in recent years.
Bertrand Cuiller plays his red-blooded harpsichord (a copy of an anonymous French instrument) with dazzling virtuosity, wit and lyricism, each of the players seeming unusually responsive to the soloist’s inflections. Take the D minor, whose outer movements are mesmerisingly gilded by Cuiller and his colleagues, while the Adagio is shaped with compelling coherence and pungency.
The G minor Concerto is not often performed in this pragmatic transcription but here, and in the more intimate and familiar exchanges of the F minor (BWV1056, and only surviving in this form), rhythmic character and well-judged embellishment spring effusively from strong and directed bass-lines. There is an authority, too, in the ringing tenderness of the second movement of the G minor, whose bittersweet affekt is underpinned by an exquisite ‘heavy laden’ rhetorical accentuation. If the intonation is a touch ‘gamey’ here, and perhaps a little less acceptably in the equivalent point in the A major, nothing can detract from the thoughtfulness, personality and fun which radiate from this wonderful recital.
Additional Recommendations
Harpsichord Concertos Nos 1 & 3
Coupled with Concerto for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings in A minor, BWV1044. Das wohltemperirte Clavier, BWV846-93 – Preludes and Fugues: F, BWV880; B, BWV892
Le Concert Français / Pierre Hantaï hpd
Naïve E8837 (70‘ · DDD). Buy from Amazon
The concertos come over well. Ensembles are tautly controlled and the string-playing effectively articulated, although on occasion the first violin is a little too favoured in the recorded balance. However, the string playing is so unanimous in sound and purpose that there’s little to worry about in this department. Hantaï himself is impressive for his wonderfully rhythmic playing, the clarity with which he interprets both his own keyboard textures and those which support and punctuate it, and not least for his supple, muscular concept of the music. These are extraordinarily invigorating performances, which draw the listener deep into the harmonic and contrapuntal complexities and conceits of Bach’s art. Take for instance the elusive Adagio of BWV1052, where careful punctuation and sensitive interaction between solo and tutti make for a rewarding coherence. In the A minor Triple Concerto, Hantaï is joined by his flautist brother, Marc, and François Fernandez, the violinist leader of the ensemble. The work is a Leipzig arrangement of movements from earlier pieces not in concerto form. The opening Allegro is a little too heavy, but the essentially three-part texture of the middle movement is realised with affection. A stimulating disc.
‘Keyboard Concertos, Vol 1’
Keyboard Concertos Nos 1 & 7
Coupled with Triple Concerto, BWV1044*. Brandenburg Concerto No 5, BWV1050*
Angela Hewitt pf *Alison Mitchell fl Australian Chamber Orchestra / Richard Tognetti *vn
Hyperion CDA67307 (77’ · DDD) Buy from Amazon
‘Keyboard Concertos, Vol 2’
Keyboard Concertos Nos 2-5; No 6*
Angela Hewitt pf *Alison Mitchell, *Emma Sholl fls Australian Chamber Orchestra / Richard Tognetti vn
Hyperion CDA67308 (75’ · DDD). Buy from Amazon. Also available as a two-CD set CDA67607/8. Buy from Amazon
These are not entirely modern-instrument performances. Angela Hewitt includes, as she says, ‘a harpsichord in its traditional role as continuo’. Combining old and new isn’t unusual because in the early years of period performing practices, the likes of Thurston Dart, Raymond Leppard and George Malcolm married a harpsichord to modern strings and wind. What’s unusual here is the melding of two different types of keyboard, one sharply transient, the other ductile; and just how their functions dovetail with one another may be heard in the slow movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No 5. Hewitt also adds a cello to the continuo while contributing notes inégales, appogiaturas and other embellishments to her own line. The result is a potent artistic synergy between the musicians.
Hewitt doesn’t slavishly follow a formula, though. In the Adagio of No 1 and the Adagio e piano sempre of No 3 (where she is most intense because both remind her of Passion music), she omits the keyboard’s bass notes for the exposition of the theme but only in No 1 does she play them for its return at the end. In these instances, in the Andante of No 7 and elsewhere, she also varies the prominence of her left hand to give the ripieno string bass a strong presence too, while delineating the right-hand melody most feelingly.
Interpretative decisions are intelligently applied; and Hewitt is at her best in the slow movements, all of which are played with the finest sensibility. If a more sinewy approach to a few of the outer movements might not have come amiss, her ability to gauge the critical notes of phrases so as to maintain an elastically accented rhythm offers ample compensation; and the consummate Australian Chamber Orchestra is with her every step of the way. The flute is placed backward in BWV1044 but otherwise recorded balance and sound ensure unimpeded concentration on the performances. Small changes in level between some works are easily adjusted. A superb pair of discs.
Keyboard Concertos – Nos 1, 2 & 4
Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Murray Perahia pf
Sony Classical SK89245 (53‘ · DDD). Buy from Amazon
Soloist-conducted piano concertos can sometimes mean compromise, even chaos…but not in this case. As soloist, Perahia is his usual stylish, discreet and pianistically refined self. He takes the D minor Concerto’s opening at a fair lick, a hot-foot sprinter embellishing the line with taste and affecting a little ritardando, just as the mood momentarily brightens, à la Edwin Fischer. Elsewhere, he’s very much his own man, intensifying his tone for rising sequences or softening it to the most rarefied murmur. His command of colour is as striking here as it is on his CD of the Goldberg Variations, especially in the Adagio, which approaches cantorial heights of intensity.
As for the E major and A major Concertos, elegance is more of the essence than fire, but there too Perahia delivers. He has a way of accenting without jabbing the keys, tracing counterpoint while keeping the top line well to the fore. And how nice to hear the warming tone of a theorbo (bass lute) in the E major Concerto’s central Siciliano, a beautiful performance, more ornamental than cantorial, in keeping with the more decorative nature of the music.
Rivals are plentiful, but credible contenders at this level of interpretation are rare. Sviatoslav Richter plays with incredible control while keeping every note alive, but some might find his manner too austere. And while Edwin Fischer is consistently spontaneous, he’s rather less elegant than Perahia – and his version of the A major Concerto sounds as if it’s ‘Busonified’. András Schiff, like Perahia, commands a wide range of colours, though the binding force of Perahia’s concentration – always a boon in his latest recordings – leaves the stronger impression. The carefully balanced Sony recordings keep the sound frame tight and lively.
Keyboard Concertos – Nos 3, 5, 6 & 7
Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Murray Perahia pf
Sony Classical SK89690 (54‘ · DDD). Buy from Amazon
As well as being immensely vital, Perahia’s Bach is profoundly pianistic, not in any exhibitionistic sense, but in the way tempo, dynamics and nuance register without undue exaggeration. Perahia’s staccato never loses quality, even when soft – try the opening movement of the Sixth Concerto. And yet he’s just as capable of increasing the pressure as he sees fit: listen out for his brightening tone at 5'16" into the same movement, or the extraordinary dexterity of his fingerwork from around 1'45" into the finale, a fair match for any fiddler tackling the same passage in the parallel Fourth Brandenburg Concerto. The counterpoint-crazy Glenn Gould is the benchmark here, wonderfully absorbing as ever, but this warmer, more discreet and more overtly decorative version is preferable. The sound is beautifully clear (violin desks are antiphonally placed) with impressive richness in the bass.
