J. S. Bach – Sonatas & Partitas For Solo Violin - Ida Haendel (3LP, Box set)
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Violin - Ida Haendel Ida Haendel
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
3LP, Box set
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : Black
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : unspecified
Label : Testament
Original Label : Testament
Recorded September and November 1995 at Abbey Road Studios
Engineered by Alex Marcou
Produced by Paul Baily
Executive Producer - Stewart Brown
Liner Notes by Jacob Siskind, Tristram Cary
Originally released in 1996
Reissued in 2017
Tracks :
Side A: Sonata No.1 In G Minor/G-Moll/En Sol Mineur, BWV 1001
1. Adagio
2. Fuga (Allegro)
3. Siciliano
4. Presto
Side B: Partita No.1 In B Minor/H-Moll/En Si Mineur, BWV 1002
1. Allemanda
2. Double
3. Corrente
4. Double (Presto)
5. Sarabanda
6. Double
7. Bourrée
8. Double
Side C: Sonata No.2 In A Minor/A-Moll/En La Mineur, BWV 1003
1. Grave
2. Fuga
3. Andante
4. Allegro
Side D: Partita No.2 In D Minor/D-Moll/En Ré Mineur, BWV 1004
1. Allemanda
2. Corrente
3. Sarabanda
4. Giga 4:20
5. Ciaconna
Side E: Sonata No.3 In C Major/C-Dur/En Ut Majeur, BWV 1005
1. Adagio
2. Fuga
3. Largo
4. Allegro Assai
Side F: Partita No.3 In E Major/E-Dur/En Mi Majeur, BWV 1006
1. Preludio
2. Loure
3. Gavotte En Rondo
4.1. Menuetto I
4.2. Menuetto II
5. Bourrée
6. Gigue
Reviews :
"It is little short of scandalous that a violinist of such mastery as Ida Haendel should have made so few recordings over the years. Happily, EMI’s splendid coupling of the Walton and Britten concertos (4/85) is still listed (the latter piece a special favourite of Haendel’s, after Robert Ponsonby persuaded her to play it at the Proms) and Stewart Brown on his Testament label has resurrected Haendel’s commanding accounts in mono of the Brahms and Tchaikovsky concertos, dating from the 1950s (10/94), as well as of Beethoven and Bruch (10/96).
Now on Testament Brown offers completely new recordings of Bach’s solo violin music, with analogue equipment consciously chosen in place of digital – a question of bloom on the violin sound, one imagines – and with minimal editing of long takes. The result is magnetic, and quite distinct from any previous recording of these unique masterpieces, a memento of Haendel’s artistry which one hopes will now be followed up before it is too late.
The first remarkable point to note is that though these six works normally fit quite easily on two discs – even when, as in Perlman’s set, all the repeats are observed – Haendel’s readings in overall timings are far broader than any rival’s, with the discs timed at 79'22'' and 80‘00 respectively. I imagine that that is the reason why in the Partita No. 3, the E major, Haendel does not observe a da capo of the first Minuet, treating the two minuets as separate movements, reasonable enough when others follow that same course, and there is no da capo marked in the Urtext Bach Gesellschaft edition. Even so, as long ago as 1936 Yehudi Menuhin observed a da capo (EMI, 8/89), as his teacher, Enescu, did in his 1948 Continental recording, briefly available on CD from Philips.
Haendel in a note explains that as a girl in the 1930s, a pupil of Carl Flesch, she found extra revelation in Enescu’s stricter, less romantic view, and though you might deduce that slow speeds reflect a nineteenth-century romantic approach, Haendel, concentrated from first to last, is far from self-indulgent. Though she takes a full 18 minutes over the great Chaconne of the D minor Partita – as against Perlman’s 15'46'' and Grumiaux’s 13'17'' – the strong, steady pacing means that the argument never drags, and the build-up is all the more powerful. With recording set in a relatively dry acoustic, one is the more involved by the clarity of focus, of power near at hand, with the dynamic range the more sharply defined. So the modulation into the major key half-way through the Chaconne brings an inner intensity on a genuine pianissimo unmatched by either Perlman or Grumiaux. A technical point that Haendel seems to have inherited from Enescu is that the bold double-stopped chords which punctuate Bach’s writing, notably in the great Chaconne, but equally in such a movement as the Sarabande of that same Partita, bring a more clipped, almost staccato style in Haendel’s hands. On that and other points Perlman and even Grumiaux seem smoother, less rugged in their strength, powerful as their readings consistently are. The incisive style also means that the opening Adagio of the Sonata No. 3 with its clashing seconds seems astonishingly modern. Haendel is masterly in shading her tone to underline contrasts of register, so giving the impression – not just in the fugues of the three Sonatas – of music developing its argument contrapuntally in multiple parts. Not that Haendel is invariably much slower than Perlman, for in the Partita No. 3, the E major, she adopts very similar speeds for all the faster movements, reserving her spacious manner for the reflective slow movements. Above all, helped by the recording technique in long takes, these are magnetic performances (available on LP as well as CD) which stand among the very finest in a formidable list of alternatives, and the warmth of sound as well as the clean definition amply justifies the decision to use analogue rather than digital recording." Gramophone.
Ratings:
Discogs : 5 / 5