Audax Milestones

It isn’t everyday that musicians are enterprising enough to start their own labels. Johannes Pramsohler founded Audax records to support his own Ensemble Diderot’s recordings, in addition to a number of musician friends. Seemingly anxious to take advantage of modern trends, they’ve released a number of electronic singles, far from unusual today with popular music. Among the releases on review from this series include:

• Bach’s Violin Partita #2 BWV 1004,
• Handel’s Violin Sonata HWV 371, and
• Telemann’s Violin Sonata, TWV 41:A4

I can’t speak to why these and other single violin works weren’t included as a traditional album, but perhaps in the age of high resolution internet streaming of music, we shouldn’t be so put off by their appearance.

The Bach work is special to me in context of Pramsohler and his instrument, the Rogeri violin that was a favorite of Reinhard Goebel. Goebel, the former leader of Musica Antiqua Köln, never got around to recording Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas before he officially retired as a violinist due to health reasons.

So I should probably mention the Telemann, next. This sonata comes from his collection of Tafelmusik, a set of three productions, each production featuring a solo instrument sonata. Musica Antiqua Köln recorded this in the late 1980s after their Bach Brandenburg recording. The set is an important one to my development of understanding and appreciating baroque music; this sonata in particular was so well done by Goebel that I figured no one could ever match his style or technical polish.

The Handel and Telemann both were already released by Pramsohler so it immediately becomes apparent what Audax Milestones is up to—releasing singles from their previous releases. But what makes the Bach different (you know we’d come back to the Bach) is that hasn’t, to my knowledge, been released yet. It also differs, of course, in that it’s not a piece that includes continuo.

Yes, Mr. Pramsohler does an admirable job on the Handel and the Telemann. And yes, the sound of his violin is, to my ears, one of the best that’s been recorded. There’s a flavor to its tone which is immediately perceivable and to now here that sound on Bach is a real treat.

Bach on baroque violins—as part of the historical performance movement—is always an interesting affair. Many musicians feel the need to separate the the fame of Bach’s solo violin music from the romantic tradition that informed the earliest performances we know on record. While the concept of a virtuoso isn’t foreign to the baroque world, the pieces by Bach did take on such a special nature to become more than just mere music, they become showpieces. I often point to Monica Huggett’s recording as one that really took an opposite view of these works; in her hands the pieces became human once again, fragile, in parts, intended for a small audience in private surroundings. She left the concert hall behind and while my initial reaction to her recording wasn’t the warmest, her statement made in that recording has stayed with me for many years.

Listening to the Giga from Bach’s 2nd partita in this recording clearly pushes the technical limits of anyone’s playing, but especially so at this speed. Pramsohler lays on the speed without any regrets it seems, which in a way reminds me a lot of one of his mentors, Mr. Goebel. The most famous movement of the partita, too, goes quickly, clocking in at 11:19.

Bach’s Ciaccona in many traditional hands was milked by drawing out a number of sections. There is, however, no clear indication of why the piece should go so quickly. Two other recordings of late seem to take inspiration with a fast performance as well. That of Enrico Onofri and Augustin Lusson are both quick, all said, and before them, we had quick renditions by Sigiswald Kuijken and Patrick Bismuth. While “quick” is a common trait, it isn’t to say the performances are all alike.

I dare say that I believe Pramsohler is one of the more technically solid interpreters, when it comes to those who roll with the gas pedal down.

I am not against virtuosity and I would of course count Bach as a composer of some of the Baroque period’s more virtuosic solo violin music. We had Locatelli, Westhoff, Pisendel, and Veracini, among others. While I agree that overly romantic renditions of any baroque music isn’t typically in line with what the aesthetic was behind this music originally, we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss elevating any piece to the virtuoso’s vault as necessarily misguided.

Baroque music was written in an effort to move the listener; the best music wasn’t written by “composers” per se, but my living, practicing musicians—players and singers. While I know a performance such as this may offend a few, it’s entirely in line with the other fine talent, technique, and style Pramsohler has brought to these other single releases. And in the iconoclastic style of Reinhard Goebel, he’s blown off the cobwebs of this music, which for at least me, has the double effect of moving me as well.

I only hope we get two more partitas and three sonatas soon.