In contrast to the Well-Tempered Clavier, which remained omnipresent in general musical and cultural consciousness after J.S. Bach's death, and the Goldberg Variations, adorned in the 20th century with an almost mystical aura, Bach’s seven keyboard toccatas have been unjustly relegated to the shadows. Composed between about 1707 and 1713, the Toccatas contain "stylus phantasticus" (fantastical style) elements of the North German baroque and are a delightful mixture of virtuoso, recitative, arioso, concertante, imitative and fugal sections, entirely in the original musical sense of the word toccare, to explore by touch.

This recording also features Bach's Prelude and Fugue BWV 894, probably written during his Weimar phase. The title Prelude is perhaps a little misleading, since it is actually a concerto-like movement, and the fugue is also more like a gigue riding out on a ceaseless hunt. Bach ingeniously reshaped the work into his Triple Concerto BWV 1044 during his Leipzig period, interpolating a second movement taken from the Trio Sonata BWV 527. Wolfgang Rübsam came up with the original idea for this recording of transferring the middle movement of BWV 1044, lifted by Bach from BWV 527, to the equivalent position between the original Prelude and Fugue movements of BWV 894.

Bach demonstrably owned at least two lute-harpsichords, listed in his estate catalogue of 1750. Rübsam’s decision to record all these works on such an instrument has proved extremely fortuitous, especially with regard to the toccatas. The poetic tone of Keith Hill's instrument – sonorous and noble in the lower registers, brilliant in the higher registers – forms an almost perfect synthesis with Rübsam’s imaginative playing.

The musicians of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden were committed to their tradition of staging an annual commemorative concert even under these difficult circumstances and decided to organize a Memento Mori to mark this date that is inscribed in the annals of city history. The program comprised a small ensemble conducted by an expert for Baroque music and two ideally suited voices for the format. The concert was recorded for the Deutschlandfunk Kultur station and broadcast as a message of peace in the world. There were fewer than ten people in the auditorium of the Semperoper, all socially distanced and listening raptly to this unique event. Ultimately this was the first sign of life, the first musical greeting from the orchestra in a concert not open to the public after months of inactivity due to the pandemic. When, barely a year ago, Arnold Schoenberg’s “Gurre-Lieder” (featuring more than 300 performers on stage to a full house!) were performed and produced for album shortly afterwards (Edition Staatskapelle Vol. 50, PH 20052), no one would have predicted that this sonorous performance would be followed by a long phase of silence. May the present recording serve as testimony in the form of a contemporary sign of a cultural reawakening.

Review

With this latest release entitled Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen (Mute Sighs, Silent Laments) the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series has reached volume 51. Contained here is a pair of J.S. Bach’s greatest church cantatas from the 2021 anniversary concert held in memory of the destruction of Dresden in 1945. The themes of chosen cantatas are death and hope of salvation seen from the standpoint of their being a gateway to everlasting life.

The city of Dresden was destroyed by three days of Allied bombing raids, in February 1945. It is now an annual tradition for the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden to mark the anniversary date with a commemorative concert with no interval and or applause during the performance or at the conclusion. For the 2021 memorial concert, the Staatskapelle Dresden was keen to maintain the tradition and went ahead while observing coronavirus regulations – specifically, without a public audience and players socially distanced players on stage.

Dorothee Mields sings Bach’s original 1714 version of Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut a solo cantata for soprano with obbligato parts for oboe and viola. As the cantata begins with a recitative and aria, Herreweghe has chosen to start the score with the Sinfonia from the church cantata Weinen, klagen, sorgen, zagen (Weeping, lamenting, sorrow, sighing) BWV 12. Such an exquisite lament, the aria Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen (Mute Sighs, Silent Laments) is sung sublimely by Mields, the overall effect heightened by the accompanying oboe part played by Rafael Sousa. In the following short chorale: Ich, dein betrübtes Kind (I, your troubled child) one senses that Mields is living the words of the penitent sinner while the viola part played by Sebastian Herberg is very much her equal.

Recorded in the outstanding acoustic of Semperoper, the sound has clarity and first-class balance. The second ‘bonus’ CD contains extracts from three huge works for chorus and orchestra appropriate to the theme of death and hope of salvation by Verdi, Berlioz and Mahler, all recorded and previously released for the Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series on Profil. Included on the ‘bonus’ CD are the interviews that Stefan Lang held in German with Philippe Herreweghe and with violist Andreas Schreiber.

Verdi completed his Messa da Requiem in 1874...[the] three chosen extracts, the sections: Requiem, Dies irae and Tuba mirum are from the recording conducted by Christian Thielemann at the Memorial Concert held on 13th February 2014 in the Semperoper, Dresden.

Berlioz wrote his Grande Messe des Morts a massive work using a huge orchestra and choral forces, in 1837...[the] recording here is the Dies irae by Sir Colin Davis, conducting the Memorial Concert given on the 13th February 1994 at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden.

The chosen extract [from Mahler's Symphony no. 2 "Resurrection" [is] the Finale...part of the recording conducted by Bernard Haitink at the Memorial Concert on the 13th February 1995 in the Semperoper.

A valuable feature of this Edition Staatskapelle Dresden series, a bilingual edition in German and English, is the scrupulously produced booklets, produced to a high standard[.] These are exemplary performances. From first to last note, I am totally engaged by Herreweghe’s rewarding accounts of two of J.S. Bach’s greatest church cantatas.

--MusicWeb International (Michael Cookson)

Also available: Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2 / Zimmermann

Since the mid-1980s, Frank Peter Zimmermann has earned recognition as one of the leading violinists, admired not only for his technical skill and interpretive intelligence, but also for his versatility in a wide-ranging repertoire. His extensive discography spans from Bach concertos and Beethoven sonatas to works by composers such as Ligeti, Magnus Lindberg and Brett Dean. But during the four decades that Zimmermann has been making recordings, he has never previously recorded Bach’s Sei solo, the six sonatas and partitas for solo violin which form an absolute pinnacle in the repertoire for the instrument. As he now takes on these works, it is with great respect for the task at hand – Zimmermann compares them to ‘a mighty tree, which protects me and crushes me at the same time’, the music giving him hope and strength at the same time as it confronts him with his limits as a violinist. On this first disc of two he offers us Sonata No. 2 in A minor, as well as the D minor Partita No. 2 with the iconic Chaconne and Partita No. 3 in E major.

REVIEW:

Zimmerman’s interpretations are the most impressive I have heard in recent years. The tone is magnificently focused, occasionally throaty but without excessive vibrato.

-- BBC Music Magazine

This album brings together things that at first glance don’t appear to have much in common: works by the two artists Johann Sebastian Bach and Agustín Barrios, who lived in distinctly different cultures many generations apart. However, the intriguing aspect of combining two so very disparate worlds is that shared elements only become apparent when they are placed side by side. Born in Uruguay, guitarist and composer José Fernández Bardesio began playing the guitar as an 11-year-old. He gave his first solo recital when he was only 15. He won first prizes at many renowned national and international competitions, including the Alirio Díaz (Gold Medal, Caracas), the Andrés Segovia Competition (Granada), the OAS Special Prize, and the Infanta Cristina Competition in Madrid.

Since making his debut in the United States and Spain in 1984, Bardesio has performed as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras in the Americas, Asia and Europe. He regularly appears at international guitar festivals and performs at important music centers including the Royal Festival Hall (London), Hall of the Americas (Washington, D.C.) and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (New York). He is featured in recordings with broadcasters in Venezuela, the US, Spain and France and his discography in the US, Spain and Germany bears testimony to his artistry. His albums are released by Hänssler Classic and his compositions with Hofmeister Musikverlag in Leipzig.

REVIEWS:

If one had to identify an individual outstanding gem from this recording, which showcased the overall virtues of Fernández Bardesio, it would be the Mazurka Apasionada by Barrios. He composed in various styles, and the Romantic European style is strongly evidenced here; both tracks 1 and 13 have that common root. The influence of Chopin can also readily be recognized in this music. One detects a particularly strong empathy for the music in this rendition.

Fernández Bardesio is a master guitarist who demonstrates high levels of technical command over the instrument, and similar qualities of musicianship, in this recording. In comparing his renditions of Barrios and Bach, one gets the feeling that he is more at home with the former. That feeling is heightened when again listening to Bream play the Bach Lute Suites. There will always be disagreement about the ‘correct’ way to play this music, compounded by one’s overall preference for revered renditions of the past.

The instrument used on this occasion is not identified. However based on the accompanying photographs, and his past employment of an instrument by Daniel Friederich, it would be safe to assume that this same instrument was played here. This recording embodies an enjoyable programme, and fine guitar playing. The juxtaposition of Bach and Barrios’ while thematically interesting, inadvertently displays musicianship more at home with the latter.

-- MusicWeb International

“Viola Virtuosa aims to demonstrate that the viola can, in addition to producing all the deep, sad notes and songful qualities attributed to it, also be an independent solo instrument. The instrument’s position, between the violin and the cello, offers us violists many opportunities to combine elements from both soundscapes and thereby to create something independent and new. This release features a number of transcriptions – not derived from a desire to take something from someone else, but because I am absolutely convinced that good music can be played in a variety of ways as long as we remain true to the spirit in which the work was originally composed.

"Works by both Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe and Gaspar Cassadó appear on this album, recorded for the first time on the viola. Ysaÿe has long fascinated me, and after featuring this work in a number of my concerts, it seemed perfectly natural to record his 4th Sonata. It was my former student Martin Moriarty who suggested the possibility of playing Cassadó on the viola, when he turned up for a lesson one day with the score of this cello suite. I was enthusiastic from the word go because the suite sounds so good on the viola and I hope that the enthusiasm we felt during the recording session is palpable. Thank you, Martin, for this great idea!” -Veit Hertenstein