Sonatas a Cembalo certato e Violino solo

May 7

May 7 Sonatas a Cembalo certato e Violino solo

I appreciate the encyclopedic approach Mr. Pramsohler takes in his latest release with harpsichordist Philippe Grisvard, both principal members of Ensemble Diderot. It would be too easy to attach his approach to album programming to the way an academic is trained; Pramsohler recently earned his doctorate in historical performance on violin. And in this new release he provides us the six sonatas for violin and obligato harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach alongside some companions over the space of 3 CDs (if you’re listening that way in 2022).

The companions include works by Telemann, Johann Adolf Sheibe, Christoph Schaffrath, Johann Gottlieb Graun, and J.S. Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel. No matter if the Bach sonatas are familiar or not, by pairing the Bach “6” with others it is putting what I am guessing are a set of familiar works in the same gallery together. The connoisseurs among us can then take delight in the comparisons; and this album is clearly being marketed to connoisseurs, as five of these companion pieces are world premiere recordings.

Schaffrath was a contemporary of W.F. Bach, to whom he lost the post of organist in Dresden at the Sophienkirche.

Graun was younger than Schaffrath and studied with Pisendel on violin before teaching violin to W.F. Bach.

Scheibe was known more as a theorist than composer; at least today we can say that as many of his works are lost. He’s contemporaneous with the other composers, having been born in Leipzig Having found no permanent position in Leipzig while Bach was at St. Thomas, he moved and made friends with Telemann and Mattheson.

Our violinist/guide writes in the notes:

The present recording attempts to present the six sonatas in their historical context, and to show the inspirations that even younger composers drew from these works. In the sequence of the pieces, the field of tension between partial imitation, conscious distancing, and fruitful further development become clearly apparent.

The programming aside, the consumer is left to decide if such a compilation, a ripe collection of pieces written, perhaps in reaction of the Bach models, alongside the master’s masterful collection, is the raison for purchase? Or are these unknown pieces bonus fodder for a recording that outshines others for the central pieces alone?

The marketplace has a number of contenders today of the J.S. Bach pieces on record; despite many good ones having been released, I’ve always been fond of my first recording on Archiv Galleria with one of Pramsohler’s mentors, Reinhard Goebel and Henk Bouman. The recording was flawed in part because of it’s early 1980s engineering. The sound was somewhat thin and brittle in spots.

This recording actually has a little bit of that sound signature from the Goebel recording—I’d say it’s the latter’s cleanness, which for the period was unique; can’t say if that was intentional or not, but the fidelity is richer in this recording. The violin comes across somewhat closer and slightly more prominent in the mix, but the recording is well done and gives the easy illusion that we’re in the same chamber as these two musical partners.

Companion Pieces

The first sonata in D major by J.A. Sheibe is most definitely written in the Bach vein; the right hand and violin trade back themes just as Bach does in his trio-sonata-esque use of the harpsichord with violin together. The Allegro even borrows thematic material. There’s a freshness to Sheibe’s writing with galant elements in the melody and harmonic progressions The closing Poco Presto to my ears is more closer in style to Telemann. The composers exploration of double stopping comes as a surprise and exploits the violin in a way somewhat different than Bach has done in his models.

Stylistically, Schaffrath is more exotic than Sheibe. The keyboard part in the second movement of his A minor duetto, CSWV F:30, offers us a fluttering figuration that is chock full of affect. Not Bachian, per se, but in the final Allegro we’re in more familiar Bachian territory. As a composer, he’s also giving the harpsichordist their due time in the sun. The sequences are so fun, stealing if you will Bach’s ideas but with different spices in the ultimate final recipe.

Counterpoint between right and violin is also the design for the B minor Scheibe sonata’s Allegro. This duo plays the movement with such confidence that it makes me think it’s a well known work in the canon; this movement is an excellent example of how Grisvard and Pramsohler have approached the pieces not by Bach, with an assured and equal amount of attention and polish.

The pieces not by Bach worth being heard and should be explored further by those specializing in this era of music. This duo has done them so well, however, in their premieres on record. In the context of Bach’s six, they enhance our understanding of Bach’s compositional style and challenge us to really pick out belongs to Bach’s own personal style and the style woven by those around him.

Bach Sonatas

I’ll start here with the odd one out, the CPE Bach sonata, H. 512, with which I am very familiar. Grisvard’s opening is mesmerizingly fast and reminds me of a gathering wind pushing leaves into cyclonic action; the effect continues once the violin enters; the duo are counting more on the shapes of their respective phrases to propel the music forward more than the clean constant ticking of a metronome. I think for this galant music it works so well. Musically, I like the contrast of the “moderato” sections when the violin enters and the otherwise flyaway figures that are anything but “moderate.” By the middle when they both engage in those flyaway figures it speaks equally to these musician’s nimble and sensitive style and the likely missed genius of Bach’s arguably most talented son. I can’t help but hear this sonata differently in their hands and think they have really done something special with it. The somewhat pedestrian melodic material in the final movement seems to be the composer’s way of showing what he can do with less extravagant thread; my only want is for more energy from the keyboard; the final movement seems to yearn for the dynamics of a piano.

I started with BWV 1019, the odd child of the set. We know of several versions of this piece; we get here the bonafide “1019” in its five movements, the apex of which is a solo for harpsichord. Grisvard takes it fast which is in line with the way his heart has been beating in the other fast movements, too; his artistry shows when he applies rubato to the phrasing without simply ploughing through the piece at one constant speed. The performance is tight and exciting. I always think to this movement—borrowed, I believe, from an organ solo in a cantata?—as Bach’s last minute insertion in special performance of this sonata. It speaks to him being at the keyboard with an expectation to show off somewhat.

The energy the duo find in the end, and the same tightness they find with their two parts together is a technical achievement.

My favorite sonata is the C minor, BWV 1017. The sound of Grisvard’s harpsichord continued what I’d heard earlier: it has a shimmery quality to it which brings to mind a glimmer or sparkle. In the Allegro, when the violin gets out of the way with a quiet dynamic, the harpsichord comes into tighter focus. The strong articulation from both artists was good. The third movement, Adagio was achingly slow for me at first, but Pramsohler was able to coax out a rather dark sound from the violin in its lower register which made the slower tempo more delicious. The harpsichord during this movement is more of a mechanical contribution, and the even tempo makes logical sense for this trompe l’oeil type effect to work.

The authenticity of BWV 1022, which is also recorded, is in doubt as having been composed by Johann Sebastian Bach; the interaction between violin and right-hand melody in the first fast movement doesn’t seem to have quite the master’s touch; the piece nevertheless is deservedly in right company with the other sonatas proffered on disc. The sonata’s final Presto movement has a considerably strong theme for the violin.

There’s also some authenticity debate around BWV 1020; some point to Bach’s son Carl Philipp; it is often taken up by flutists as one of their own. While the more melodic galant opening and three-movement structure to make it more modern, I’ve often liked to believe that it might have been something CPE wrote with his father’s tutelage. It’s nevertheless nice to get these two bonus sonatas included along with the six traditional ones, BWV 1014-1019.

Conclusions

I was asked some months ago if I had a “reference” recording for the six sonatas by Bach. I’d mentioned Goebel but many others had disappointed on one level or another; this one, I feel, rises to the level of becoming the new modern standard. The music is always played impeccably clean and technically comes off without any issues. The fact that the musicians do play with rubato when it seems appropriate tells me they understand the musical language well and how it changed from time of Bach’s six sonatas to the completion of those by the other composers on record.

The decision to perform these alongside others, I believe, was a good decision. Not every world premiere on record is a celebration, but I think the sonatas chosen here were well-curated to enhance our understanding of Bach’s writing and the state what was otherwise a new type of composition: a trio texture for two players, for violin and an equally competent keyboardist who could match the affect in one voice to the right hand in tandem.

There are, admittedly, many recordings of many of these pieces, the ones not presented for the first time. There are other standout successes but few are as comprehensively as strong, recorded with good acoustics and miking, and not to mention with sensitive ornamentation. The finale to BWV 1020 is a good example: notice how ornaments in one melody line translate well into the other line by the other player. There’s a synergy there that’s frankly not always there in other recordings.

I always look forward to Pramsohler’s recordings. As I’ve written before, there’s a special treat in hearing his violin, one of those owned, perhaps the favorite, of MAK founder Reinhard Goebel. It’s to my ear one of the most satisfying sounding baroque violins on record and I am so glad it’s landed in the possession of someone who can play it so well.

Here, I feel assured, he’s done one better than his mentor. It deserves my highest regard.