Other Fans

Someone recently asked me a question. Okay, they asked me a series of questions.

1. How much money do you make with your biberfan site?
2. How many people visit your biberfan site?

When I told her the answers, she asked yet another:

Why do you spend time and energy on your biberfan site?

I remember reading somewhere about the Read/Write Web and blogging: no matter your interest, if you share your passion about it through blogging, there will be some audience.

My only thought is… this site would be so much better if it was many voices rather than one.

I tried this at my Messy Cuisine site (link). I gave logins to several friends who said they’d like to blog about food–specifically, restaurant reviews. To this date, not one has contributed something.

Geeze.

I’d love to get other writers about Baroque and Classical music to review online here with me. I’d manage things, have a couple ounces of editorial control, but otherwise would support more writers.

Whaddya think?

Huggett performs Bach

Sonnerie and Monica Huggett perform Bach’s Violin Concerti.

I spied this release on the iTunes Music Store, but ordered the CD. I liked what I heard online, but wanted a full-hog, full-resolution version. I compared it to other recordings. First and foremost, this CD succeeds by nature of its recorded sound: things are crisp and clear.

I compared her reading of my favorite A-minor concerto, BWV 1041, with Andrew Manze with the AAM. The AAM recording chooses faster tempi, and the soloist, Manze, rises to the top of the froth of strings, projecting Bach’s melodies and contrapuntal fury with some attitude.

Yet, the recorded sound is muted and distant.

Huggett’s reading, more up-front, natural, and warmer. With Huggett’s reading, however, she can hide. She can hide behind the other players, as they use a 1/part ratio. With the A minor, she takes it all a bit slower, but the concerto really doesn’t suffer for it. It’s a light touch she has, and across the whole disc, it might dilute our pleasure. But she has attitude under her skirt, too.

The opening work, reviewed previously, is the arranged D-minor work, and no matter who you are, this work has some attitude. While less intense, the G minor work, BWV 1056, is likewise here re-scored for violin. The middle movement is a real favorite; having played it myself many times on the trombone, I liked Huggett’s solo, but didn’t care as much for the harpsichord using lute stop. Somehow, I question whether or not this effect was used in continuo. Just a hunch.

The third movement of the G-minor picks up speed, and shows what happens in a small ensemble. The tempo can shift, transparency illuminates the work’s complexity (or simplicity), and little start-stops in the tempo take us for surprise. It could be a bad thing, but here, I kind of like the little shifts in tempo between phrases… it gives the work a very human, organic feeling.

The E-major work, the famous BWV 1042, is well-performed, too. I like some of Huggett’s phrasing in the last movement.

All the tempi chosen are moderate, by modern-day standards. None convey too much attitude. And maybe that’s what holds me back from giving a most enthusiastic nod, here. I like the tempos swift, the fiesty attitude, and the sassy kicks in line and dynamics that set our friends Manze and Biondi apart. Yet, this is a great collection, nonetheless… why? The recorded sound, the ensemble sound (they mesh together very well in tone), and there’s something attractive about the one per part scoring that lets us hear each of Bach’s lines in a most intimate manner. This is no definitive set, but one that has charm. Huggett and company take a back seat to saying something profound, and instead, let Bach’s music speak for itself. There, they have succeeded.

Bach’s BWV 1052

Does it get much better than Johann Sebastian’s concerto, BWV 1052? Originally, a harpsichord concerto in the wonderful key of D-minor, it is believed to be a second-hand work, originally for “some other instrumentation,” and there are ripe reconstructions to enjoy. I have decided to discuss the work, not as part of a collection, but in the guise of different performances, from it’s “original” harpsichord version, to more colorful renditions with violin.

In fact, we have Le Concert Français, The Academy of Ancient Music (Egarr/Manze), Monica Huggett with Sonnerie, Europa Galante with Fabio Biondi. Two ensembles performing it with harpsichord, and another showdown with violin. Some favorites too… Hantaï, Huggett, Biondi… the AAM. First, can any of these performers do wrong? It’s one of Bach’s better concerti… full of emotion and passion. Let’s see which is the more delicious.

Hantaï and company offer a very clean, close recording that is one per part. The harpsichord playing is impeccable, perfect in timing. The sparse orchestra, however, at times can depart slightly with the sync, but overall, the ensemble performs well in their small setting. The middle movement from Le Concert is especially interesting–playing unlike the others–with a phrase style that demands attention. Instead of the “flow” we might expect from a violin or woodwind, it seems especially adapted for an instrument that cannot sustain tone. I felt ultimately some more interesting things could happen from the accompanying strings during this movement… but the limelight does go to the harpsichord. The speed and “tightness” of the ensemble in the last movement is impressive… everyone’s together, and there is definitely toe-tapping energy to be found. Bach was a genius. LCF does him justice here. I don’t like all my recordings so close, but it works here.

This recording pales against Hantaï’s. There is more of a shape to the phrasing from the soloist, Richard Egarr, and the ensemble, but the tempi chosen and the recorded sound can’t match the French recording. Egarr does some nice things with phrasing, however, mixing a more legato style with a more perfect, deliberate attack. The other nice thing about the AAM recording is the use of lute in the continuo; I simply enjoy hearing those big fat low bass lute notes come out from time to time.

During dramatic portions of the music, however, I just am trying to hear more… more intensity… sound… tempo, and the AAM and crew just fall short. The middle movement is a sleeper, clocking in at 7:30.

Monica Huggett and Sonnerie have recently come out with a CD of Bach’s violin concertos, among them, our D-minor friend, BWV 1052. It’s a nicely recorded disc, and this concerto has some of the penache and verve that our friends lacked from the AAM. Like LCF, they play one per part. Huggett has dropped her Amati for this recording, and the violin used sounds good… like her more recent Biber recordings, there’s a little sass to be found. The middle movement is nicely done, with a more sensical tempo and more typical phrasing. There are parts, where we have to question the transcription. Parts where everyone drops out, it seems, and the solo goes over to the viola. I like that, but do the upper strings all need to drop out so? I have not a score to examine, but the solution Biondi and company follow makes more sense to me.

There’s a lot to like in the Huggett recording for BWV 1052. Good tempi, very nice transparent sounds between the parts. Her extension into the upper range at times is an unusual, refreshing twist. The ensemble is playing with dynamic contrasts, but I don’t always find them convincing. And the last movement suffers from some questionable “wabbly” tempo changes. Nothing awful, but my foot-tapping got confused in a few places that didn’t make the most “organic” (read: natural), sense.

Then finally, we consider the recording by Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante of the same work, again, transcribed for violin. The recorded sound, compared to Huggett’s, is a bit colder, recorded more distant, for a larger orchestra. Where Hantaï’s reading was tight, Biondi’s dramatic and push-pull, but it always sounds organic (natural). Biondi is far more adventurous than Huggett, dropping ornaments like a rapper might drop “f-bombs” in hip-hop. He can change his sound, mid-phrase even, and does so with such an interesting effect. He may not exploit every dramatic nuance Bach has hidden in this masterwork, but he does reveal a few, and some, with wondrous affect. The tense feeling in the solo-passage in the first movement, which suddenly relaxes when the rest of the ensemble comes in is well-done. This is a creative interpretation, and among Biondi’s better work, this is likely one of his best on record. His little tongue-in-cheek effects added like extra scroll-work on a baroque façade are extra treats. He’s a master.

In all, Bach wrote a great concerto. Biondi and the others all made great recordings, but someone had to be the least interesting. For me, it was Egarr with the AAM. Biondi wins on the flair, especially so, too, in the middle movement which isn’t the most interesting of the three. But his sound rises above the accompaniment. He chose good tempos. But Hantaï has a fine rendition on harpsichord, tight, and energetic. And Huggett’s new disc is good, this the opening number, well-recorded and a tad sassy–but not overdone to Biondi’s extreme.

I like them all.

One for a desert island? Unfair, each disc has such great musical treasures. But if I could only have one BWV 1052, Biondi and Europa Galante say more with Bach’s notes. Oh, to wonder what JSB would have thought!

Bach: Violin Sonatas and Partitas - Kremer

Gidon Kremer records Bach’s Sei Soli for violin, ECM New Series.

What different ways there are to perform (and record) Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas! I would pair this recording by Kremer with my first, recorded by Itzhak Perlman. Both are “modern” violinists, in a time where we now look backward when performing. Backward in a positive sense, of course. It doesn’t mean Bach (or any other composer) cannot be performed on modern instruments. My only gripe is when we play modern, and then try to emulate the past. Why put theorboes in the orchestra with Vivaldi when we’re playing on modern instruments with vibrato?

To say Kremer’s recording is “modern” is a compliment, he doesn’t overdo vibrato, another quality I find tasteless when playing on the violin. In fact, I think performers today are learning from one another… “period” players are warming up, romanticist players are cooling down. Maybe.

I don’t much care what Kremer’s theory is behind scholarship. He simply has made a definitive, tour de force (whatever that means), personal recording that sounds great. And he plays so well, too.

He doesn’t hold back, either. Listen to the famous long Chaconne. He’s beating the living hell out of the instrument, broad, strong, intense strokes. Baroque purists might run in fear. But it’s real authenticity. This is a man who’s gotten into Bach’s head, and his own, and is making this music his own. Above all, this recording exudes confidence. There’s no doubt he owns the notes, the bow strokes, and makes sounds that feel convincingly authoritative. It might not be Bach’s sound world, but it’s Kremers. And that’s something to admire.

I recently acquired the Holloway recording of this music on ECM (look forward to a review). His take is different. So is Huggett’s, and all the rest. Listening to Kremer simply makes you feel good. His interpretation might not be the “Best,” but it’s very good, and demands your full attention. He reveals qualities in these works I don’t always hear. This is good!

The recorded sound is excellent: close, but enough air and “reverb.” Excellent, clean technique, and a beautiful violin sound. This has already become a favorite recording. Kremer takes chances where others are careful. His playing exaggerates the slurs and phrase groupings that would help any violin student get it right. Maybe overdone, but I like it. It’s not what I typically hear.

I realize these notes are not very specific or well-organized. I apologize. But your mind will likely be filled with superlative thoughts in disarray when you listen to Kremer’s Bach. There’s variety of dynamics, breathtaking speed, and impressive technique. Above all, it’s Bach, who ought to be as proud as proud gets for writing such engaging, perfect, delicious music that in our day is still celebrated, and by so many folks, in different ways.

Ah, the memories…

This website offers readers a historical presentation of the Apple mice. Yes, I got nostalgic looking at everything from the Lisa mouse, to the hockey-puck iMac mouse. I thought when I went to the page, I’d have a favorite. But looking them all over, they each brought back fond memories.

If I had to pinpoint just one: Mighty Mouse best Apple mouse. And Apple Extended Keyboard II, best Apple keyboard. I’m using both now, so I should be happy.