Post by Fugue February 9, 2011 (1 of 14)
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I don't have time at the moment for a full review, but I just wanted to alert potential buyers to what a wonderful recording this is. Pavlo's tone is quite warm for a period instrument (some can sound overly wiry to me), and his playing is superb. Some tempos are a bit generous, but he prefers to treat these pieces as sublime music rather than virtuosity. Don't get me wrong: he possesses enormous technique in order to make these pieces sound so effortless. Part of the lack of strain might make his performances sound superficially less dramatic than a few other players' renditions, but he is wonderfully expressive. As is typical with Linn, the sound is gorgeous. He's recorded at a reasonable distance in a reverberant church. The sound is detailed without a lot of extraneous noise. Hmmm...I just noticed that if one downloads this recording from their site, Linn includes Pavlo's transcription of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor! (There is evidence to suggest that it started life as a solo violin piece.) Oh well, I prefer the m-ch disc.
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is the 'label of the year' image printed on the cover? or is it a sticker?
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Post by Fugue February 9, 2011 (3 of 14)
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It's a sticker on the cellophane wrapping. Oh man, that would utterly ruin the cover otherwise!
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Post by Beagle February 11, 2011 (4 of 14)
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At work today I listened to the Linn on-line samples, and in the first few bars my impression was 'This guy plays slow'. I don't know how the brain does this, based upon a few seconds of listening, but at home I crunched the numbers and I was quite right.
'Slow' is not necessarily a criticism; I think this Irish Ukranian succeeds at more or less the same speed which makes Julia Fischer's rendition sleep-inducing.
Here are the numbers:
BWV .......1001 / 1002 / 1003 / 1004 / 1005 / 1006
St John ... 1507 / 1822 / 2216 / 3032 / 2305 / 1627
Perlman ...1638 / 2829 / 2400 / 3117 / 2410 / 1814
Fischer ....1710 / 3047 / 2409 / 3153 / 2434 / 1859
Beznosiuk 1747 / 3024 / 2357 / 3048 / 2450 / 1938
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Post by diw February 12, 2011 (5 of 14)
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Lara is 12 minutes faster in BVW1002? How is it possible to have that great a spread?
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Post by wehecht February 12, 2011 (6 of 14)
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Is it possible that St John eliminates the doubles in partita #1? Aural memory being as uncertain as it is I shouldn't even guess, but I don't recall her tempos as being that much faster than Fischer's and I can't think of anything else that would account for the difference, not just with Fischer but the other performances as well.
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Post by Beagle February 12, 2011 (7 of 14)
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wehecht said: Is it possible that St John eliminates the doubles...?
Very possibly...
St John's times for dance+double are very similar to Perlman's dance w/o double.
But the doubles ARE listed in the timings:
5. Allemanda/Double 6:56 (Perlman 6:39, 2:53)
6. Corrente/Double 4:07 (Perlman 3:15, 3:12)
7. Sarabande/Double 3:44 (Perlman 3:30, 2:05)
8. Tempo di Borea/Double 3:35 (Perlman 3:18, 3:27)
-- I will need to listen carefully soon and report back....
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Post by Fugue February 12, 2011 (8 of 14)
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Maybe she doesn't do repeats in the doubles. I had her set and don't recall her just ripping through them. I didn't finish listening to it before I hit the eject button, so I'm not an authority on it! :-)
Well, this is interesting. After living with this recording for a few more days, I'm growing less fond of it! He really doesn't do much with color or dynamics, so the result is rather monochrome and bland. He must come from the "let the music speak for itself" school, which is perfectly valid, but I prefer a more dramatic and personal response. Plus, I prefer the more robust tone of later instruments (his dates from 1676).
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Post by jdaniel February 12, 2011 (9 of 14)
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Szeryng's first is my current favorite, not exactly HIP!
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Post by Fugue February 12, 2011 (10 of 14)
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Yes, Szeryng is excellent. I also enjoy Milstein's, Kagan's, Kremer's, and Fischer's to any HIP that I have heard.
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