BACH The Well-Tempered Clavier ? Evelyn Crochet (pn) ? MUSIC & ARTS CD-1180 (4 CDs: 259:36)


The last I?d heard of Evelyn Crochet was on my turntable last year, when I listened once again to her cycle of Fauré?s piano music on Vox LPs issued during the 1960s. In their own quiet, understated way, I think they remain among the pleasures of that audio period, both for their sensitivity and core of robust strength. Now, Music & Arts has released a 2002 recording of the complete Well-Tempered Clavier featuring Crochet. When our beloved Editor mentioned it, I immediately requested a copy for review?despite knowing that present day disappointments from respected artists of yore do occur, and more often than we care to admit.


My concerns were largely unjustified, however. Crochet is in excellent form. She offers gracious playing, unsentimental but not without warmth when required, as the serenely smiling E?-Major Prelude (Book 2) demonstrates. Another Prelude, that of B? Major (Book 1), demonstrates the state of her current technique with fleet, perfectly even passagework. The chords that break and resolve the linear movement aren?t milked in the Romantic manner, but allowed to fall naturally in place.


So an informed style is a factor in these performances, as it was in Crochet?s Fauré. The C-Major Prelude, the one that leads off the entire set, is again luminous while avoiding anachronisms: the bass line makes its vital presence known without drawing undo attention, and discreet changes in dynamics between each repetition of the arpeggiated cell facilitate the music?s flow without drawing attention to themselves. It is an example the pianist gives repeatedly throughout the album.


If I find the fugues overall just slightly less good, it?s because of the more incisive voicing offered by Angela Hewitt in her recording (Hyperion CDA 67301/2, CDA 67303/4). Crochet?s approach seems more generalized in the slower, calmer fugues, including the one in C Minor (Book 2). These are subtle performances where minute changes in tempo, volume, articulation, or dominance between the hands create the final effect, and the fugal textures are downplayed a bit too much for my taste. That noted, those fugues that offer what we would consider a more expressive character are highly enjoyable under her hands. To the A-Major Fugue (Book 1), for example, Crochet supplies a puckish, almost truculent humor that results from the sharp accent given to the first note, contrasted against the delicate filigree work in the left hand.


The miking is close, always a good thing where the piano is concerned, but with a slightly glassy sound in loud passages, and a slightly dull one in quieter moments. The liner notes provided by Crochet appear aimed at musical novices, but would they really form the natural audience for this release? In any case, these are quibbles that shouldn?t stand in the way of purchasing this attractive set. It offers no revelations but solid, inspired music-making, and that?s enough for me.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Johann Sebastian Bach's six Partitas for Harpsichord are among the greatest and most inspired works of all keyboard literature. They represent the composer's genius at the height of his maturity, matched only by his Goldberg Variations. They are performed here by Colin Tilney on a copy of an instrument by Christian Zell, Hamburg, 1728, built by Colin Booth, Wells, England, 1984. Colin Tilney is internationally known for his harpsichord, clavichord and fortepiano playing, with many solo recordings on DG (Archive), EMI Electrola, Decca, Hyperion, Dorian, Doremi and CBC SM 5000. Originally working in London as an accompanist and repetiteur, in 1979 he moved to Canada, first to Toronto, where he taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music and founded the chamber group Les Coucous Benevoles; more recently (2002) to Victoria where he is on the staff of the Music School at the University of Victoria. J.S. Bach: Partitas for Harpsichord is his eighth recording for Music & Arts.

REVIEW:

Colin Tilney’s tempos in Bach’s music have considerably slowed down with age (the harpsichordist is 87 at this writing), and he never was a sprinter to begin with. As a consequence, his Six Partitas rarely reflect the music’s dance roots. Indeed, movements dependent on rhythmic momentum, like the Fifth Partita’s Praeambulum, No. 6’s Air, No. 3’s Courante, and all of the Gigues often leave a ponderous impression. Rhythmic amorphousness prevails in No. 1’s Praeludium, where Tilney’s loosely held duple meter soon settles into a tuple meter groove. However, Tilney retains his masterful legato finger technique, and the ability to make the quills on his resplendently engineered harpsichord sing, as No. 1’s Sarabande, No. 2’s Sinfonia, and No. 4’s sensitively ornamented Allemande bear out.

Given the performances’ leisurely trajectory, it’s not surprising that they spill over to three CDs rather than the usual two. While my reference Bach Partitas on harpsichord remain those of Trevor Pinnock (Hänssler), Igor Kipnis (Warner Classics), and Jory Vinikour (Sono Luminus), the sheer beauty that Tilney creates in Bach’s more reflective movements may well be worth the price of admission.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Stephen Schultz, called “among the most flawless artists on the Baroque flute” by the San Jose Mercury News, “flute extraordinaire” by the New Jersey Star-Ledger, and praised for performances of “stunning warmth and agility” by the Los Angeles Times, is joined by harpsichordist Jory Vinikour. Twice GRAMMY® nominated, and hailed as “…an authentic poet of the harpsichord” by Denni Republik (Czech Republic), his performances have received raves in Gramophone and elsewhere. The four sonatas recorded here belong to a type of chamber music that was at the cutting edge of developments during the 1720s and 1730s: the duo for melody instrument and obbligato harpsichord. One might alternatively describe such works as trios, since the harpsichordist’s right-hand part is musically equal to the melody instrument’s part, their exchanges being accompanied, as it were, by a third musical line in the left-hand harpsichord part.

Includes work(s) by Martin Peerson, François Couperin, Louis-Claude Daquin, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Soloist: Igor Kipnis.
Includes work(s) for harpsichord by William Byrd, Louis Couperin, Jean-Philippe Rameau, George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach. Soloist: Igor Kipnis.

Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) is considered to be the founder of Brazilian art song. He deeply absorbed the influence of the German Lied and French Mélodie, combined them with some characteristic rhythms and melodic elements from his native country, and during his lifetime produced the most important body of Brazilian art songs, perhaps to this day. Featured on this album are nine of his non-Portuguese songs, five of which are world premiere recordings. Also included are songs by his European contemporaries Ernest Chausson, Edvard Grieg, and Richard Strauss.