Naim Audio Forum Archive

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by VladtheImpala

Originally Posted by mtuttleb:

Originally Posted by VladtheImpala:

Originally Posted by Haim Ronen:

The recording is a peach, perfectly framing Faust’s superb musicianship.

Andrew McGregor -- June 24, 2010 -- BBC Review

Any violinist will tell you that Bach’s six suites for solo violin are miraculous creations. And they’ve had a fascinating history on disc, with some of the 20th century’s greatest violinists recording the set. But with the rise of the baroque specialist playing period instruments and alive to the latest scholarship, the kind of sounds and style of playing changed.

Sigiswald Kuijken’s pioneering recording in 1981 is at the vanguard of a steady stream of fine baroque violinists, like MonicaHuggett, John Holloway, Lucy van Dael, and Rachel Podger –

who’s a particular favourite for the sheer exuberance and joy of her playing, as well as everything she can teach us about the different colours you experience with gut strings at a lower pitch, and the myriad ways in which a baroque bow affects phrasing and articulation. A new generation of modern violinists has been listening, and learning, as you’ll know if you’ve heard the likes of Viktoria Mullova, Julia Fischer or Alina Ibragimova in their recent recordings of solo Bach, each of them adopting different aspects of the baroque violinist’s art, and experimenting with bows, strings, vibrato and phrasing.

Now we can add Isabelle Faust, whose sound is deliciously straight with little or no vibrato, and bowed with such sensitivity to Bach’s phrasing that you could almost kid yourself at times that she’s using a baroque bow. But a couple of features are especially telling: her instinct for ornamentation in the repeats, and the sense of cumulative musicianship – a momentum that builds not just in individual movements like the great Chaconne that ends Bach’s D minor Partita, but through each suite. The Chaconne is on the brisk side, but beautifully built from the opening chords, and the Adagio and Fugue that open the C major Sonata are also particularly well handled by Faust, the slow opening movement stroked into life, before the different voices of Bach’s monumental fugue are laid before us.

Faust’s playing has elements of Mullova’s power, Ibragimova’s intimacy, Fischer’s bravura, and Podger’s delight in Bach’s dances, and the recording is a peach, perfectly framing her musicianship. There’s only one thing wrong with it: there are only three of the six suites here, the D minor and E major Partitas and the C major Sonata, and I’m impatient for volume two.

Both volumes are terrific Ms Faust is a wonderful musician.

Certainly agree. I have seen her live twice. Once in an old church in Alsace (Saint-Pierre sur l'Hâte) together with Alexander (Sasha) Melnikov performing some Beethoven violin sonatas. The other time was in Frankfurt with Orchestra Mozart directed by Claudio Abbado

Regards,

Mark

Those are rather wonderful, too!

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by DenisA

It Was 40 Years Ago Today - Larks' Tongues In Aspic

Sid Smith's Postcard from The Yellow Room - http://sidsmith.blogspot.co.uk...y-larks-tongues.html

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by EJS

Cheers,

EJ

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Bert Schurink

Originally Posted by EJS:

Cheers,

EJ

Hi EJ,

You publsihed some initial impressions earlier. Is it worth while enough to buy it ?

Cheers,

Bert

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Bert Schurink

...I was a bit worried that Spock's Beard would loose it's magic due to Nick leaving, but this new CD is a real recommendation - of course only on a first spin impression, but that's for this type of music not a bad indication...

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Bert Schurink

Originally Posted by VladtheImpala:

Originally Posted by mtuttleb:

Originally Posted by VladtheImpala:

Originally Posted by Haim Ronen:

The recording is a peach, perfectly framing Faust’s superb musicianship.

Andrew McGregor -- June 24, 2010 -- BBC Review

Any violinist will tell you that Bach’s six suites for solo violin are miraculous creations. And they’ve had a fascinating history on disc, with some of the 20th century’s greatest violinists recording the set. But with the rise of the baroque specialist playing period instruments and alive to the latest scholarship, the kind of sounds and style of playing changed.

Sigiswald Kuijken’s pioneering recording in 1981 is at the vanguard of a steady stream of fine baroque violinists, like MonicaHuggett, John Holloway, Lucy van Dael, and Rachel Podger –

who’s a particular favourite for the sheer exuberance and joy of her playing, as well as everything she can teach us about the different colours you experience with gut strings at a lower pitch, and the myriad ways in which a baroque bow affects phrasing and articulation. A new generation of modern violinists has been listening, and learning, as you’ll know if you’ve heard the likes of Viktoria Mullova, Julia Fischer or Alina Ibragimova in their recent recordings of solo Bach, each of them adopting different aspects of the baroque violinist’s art, and experimenting with bows, strings, vibrato and phrasing.

Now we can add Isabelle Faust, whose sound is deliciously straight with little or no vibrato, and bowed with such sensitivity to Bach’s phrasing that you could almost kid yourself at times that she’s using a baroque bow. But a couple of features are especially telling: her instinct for ornamentation in the repeats, and the sense of cumulative musicianship – a momentum that builds not just in individual movements like the great Chaconne that ends Bach’s D minor Partita, but through each suite. The Chaconne is on the brisk side, but beautifully built from the opening chords, and the Adagio and Fugue that open the C major Sonata are also particularly well handled by Faust, the slow opening movement stroked into life, before the different voices of Bach’s monumental fugue are laid before us.

Faust’s playing has elements of Mullova’s power, Ibragimova’s intimacy, Fischer’s bravura, and Podger’s delight in Bach’s dances, and the recording is a peach, perfectly framing her musicianship. There’s only one thing wrong with it: there are only three of the six suites here, the D minor and E major Partitas and the C major Sonata, and I’m impatient for volume two.

Both volumes are terrific Ms Faust is a wonderful musician.

Certainly agree. I have seen her live twice. Once in an old church in Alsace (Saint-Pierre sur l'Hâte) together with Alexander (Sasha) Melnikov performing some Beethoven violin sonatas. The other time was in Frankfurt with Orchestra Mozart directed by Claudio Abbado

Regards,

Mark

Those are rather wonderful, too!

...the Bach pieces are also my favourite with Isabella Faust, and I also like you second recommendation....I just bought today a complete different interpretation - also sounds promising

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by adca

Went from Belenus Quartet to Harry James (The King James Version, 1976; Still Harry After All These Years, 1979) and Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues ("Vol. I", 1968; Vol. II (The Missing Link) and Vol. III are scheduled). Still great after 30+ years.

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Bert Schurink

...now listening to this album, sound is very earthy, very special...you have to hear it to understand what it's coming accross - piano as never heard before, nice..

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Haim Ronen

Originally Posted by Bert Schurink:

...now listening to this album, sound is very earthy, very special...you have to hear it to understand what it's coming accross - piano as never heard before, nice..

ֵEarthy is a very good description. An excellent album.

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Bert Schurink

...different but also beautiful..

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Tony2011

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by EJS

Originally Posted by Bert Schurink:

Originally Posted by EJS:

Cheers,

EJ

Hi EJ,

You publsihed some initial impressions earlier. Is it worth while enough to buy it ?

Cheers,

Bert

Difficult to say - these are excellent performances of unknown music. The sonatas are fun but light weight, the quartet is a serious work and worth the price of admission IMO. Weber's best known work is Freischütz, an entertaining opera and advanced for its time. His chamber music, including these works, are similarly inventive and 'out of the box' but don't reach the same level. You need a charismatic performer like Faust to champion these works.

EJ

Posted on: 23 March 2013 by Haim Ronen