On the heels of Sharon Isbin's Virgin Classics integral recording of the four 'lute suites' comes this new one, the two are similar in that they introduce much embellishment, but there the resemblance ceases. In reviewing Isbin's set I commented that embellishment by means of diminution is more suited to the guitar than is the 'routine' insertion of short trills and the like. Neither perfommer uses either method exclusively but Isbin, guided by Rosalyn Tureck, favours the latter whilst Fernandez wisely concentrates on the former. Not only does he do it liberally, he also does it very well and, for the most part, in good style a few trills stand on their heads and there are some over-short appoggiaturas, e.g. in BWV1006a, why clipped in Minuet I but (properly) long in II? Fernandez's quick fingers help him to execute these additions (often made to passages that are difficult in their basic forms) cleanly and to absorb them naturally into the lines, but, doubtless together with taste and temperament, they also lead him into some fast tempos. Only once is Isbin first past the finishing post (BWV996—Courante) when both complete the course, Isbin omits some repeats in order to fit all four suites on one disc, which Fernandez does without such help—and with over seven minutes to spare!
How fast is 'fast'? Generally when it sounds too fast, as it frequently does here, e.g. in the torrential Passagio that opens BWV996 and in the Minuets of BWV1006a, to which Isbin brings more courtly grace, are examples it would be easy to multiply. There is much flexibility and wammth in Femandez's playing but there is too a measure of relentlessness in many quicker movements, in which one might share his overt joy and pleasure in the music more if allowed to catch one's breath. The Achilles heel of his technique is his tone-quality, far more extensively invaded by harshness than Isbin's, and the digital recording does nothing to alleviate it. Optimal recorded versions of these suites have yet to appear, but we have two very different, laudably adventurous and complementary sets to be going on with.
Fernandez's two-disc set contains other items from Bach's 'lute oeuvre' but why it was not completed by including the Fugue, BWV1000, on a disc that plays for only 45 minutes, is anyone's guess. The choice of the little Prelude, BWV999 which closes on dominant hammony, poses another unanswered question. The Chaconne receives an impassioned and pacy (more so than from most violinists) perfommance, but the best remains that by Goran Sollscher (DG (CD) 413 325-2GH, 9/84). The Prelude and Fugue of BWV998 receive exemplary treatment with the da capo of the latter embellished ani the whole clearly voiced, but the Allegro is another of those that sounds more rushed than its metronome marking suggests.
Guitarists have of late tumed their attention to the keyboard Partitas, BWV825-30, as Femandez does here to the first of them. The Prelude works well enough but the difficulty of the Allemande, a little hurried, shows in the uneasy jerkiness of its delivery, and likewise the Courante despite its slower-than-usual pace. The Sarabande sounds more as though it 'belongs', but the guitar's inability to sustain the trill over bars 21-2 enforces an uncomfortable altemative—and, again 'why?' repeats are eschewed. Lack of smoothness haunts the hard-attacked Minuets, but with only a minimal hitch the final Gigue succeeds surprisingly well. I have yet to be convinced that, taken in its entirety, any of the Partitas is suitable as material for the guitar. Likewise, taken in its entirety, this is a recording that has much to offer- a clear signpost on the way guitarists are now travelling in pursuit of other Bachkenner, to be followed in conjunction with that of Isbin's recording, not instead of it.'