Isabelle Faust: Bach Sonatas for Violin and Continuo
Isabelle Faust is joined on this new release from Harmonia Mundi with contributions from Kristian Bezuidenhout (keyboard) and Kristin von der Goltz (cello). Bach’s major collection of violin pieces with keyboard (BWV 1014-1019) are followed in the catalog by a number of pieces, some of dubious origin. This album captures some of these, alongside an early version of BWV 1019, 1019a.
Balance between the three players sounds realistic. Von der Goltz and Bezuidenhout are great partners in these performers; listen to the figured bass support in the opening movement of BWV 1021. There’s a grit to their combined sound which I found palpable against the sound of Faust’s baroque violin, a copy of the Strad Sleeping Beauty. The original instrument is owned by Boeselager family and Faust often plays it herself. It’s interesting that she chose to have a copy made for her work with baroque repertoire. Her own foray into HIPP started using modern-configured violins, but over time, she’s moonlighted as a baroque violinist, something I admire greatly.
You can hear her approach to phrasing in movements like the Largo from BWV 1021 or the opening of BWV 1019a (track 13). The instrument has a luxurious tone, to my ears, and it’s easy to just sit back and admire its timbre as she adopts a straightforward approach to phrasing.
Speaking of 1019, I was never aware of this three movement design, ending in a dance in G minor; my understanding was that yes, there were three versions of this work, but that they were each 5 movement designs. None of that is of special import here, all three movements are well-played.
The Fugue for violin and continuo BWV 1026 follows on this recording, bridging the G minor key. As I’ve written earlier this is among my most favorite pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s believed to be a fragment from a larger work, and what a shame it’s been lost. I don’t always hear it with a bowed instrument, but in this case, the cello support gives significant weight to the keyboard’s left hand. At times I felt maybe too much weight.
Among my favorite performances of this work was the one recorded by All of Bach, featuring Shunske Sato. This interpretation is very different, but no less affective to us as listeners. Hearing how each violinist tackles the baroliage is interesting.
The last piece offered is another favorite (and another in the key of G minor), an arrangement of the gamba sonata BWV 1029, here realized by the violin. Faust makes us believe this was the original piece, by the sound of things. Tempos are perfect across the three movements.
In all, this is a strong release, lacking in nothing that I can detect. Faust’s playing seems effortless and graceful, and in a few spots, such as the Presto of BWV 1024 or the aforementioned Fugue, BWV 1026, I could have used a little more bite or attitude, but what we get instead is how Faust and her colleagues think the music should be presented. And that in of itself is good enough for I think any of us to recognize the polish and sensitivity brought to these works.
I have to call out Bezuidenhout’s playing on the harpsichord: maybe save for the Affetuoso in the same four-movement BWV 1024, his right hand is pretty active and characteristically, he’s a “noisy” continuo player. It’s so refreshing, I think, to have this more involved support from the keyboard. It’s something aside from Faust’s strong playing that makes this recording stand out and yes—noisy in this case is meant as a superlative.
