Reviews
GMCD 7258/9 French Suites and Overtures
American Record Guide February 04
American Record Guide –
January/February 2004
BACH.
French
Suites; French Overture; Prelude & Fugue in
A minor, S
894
Paul Parsons,
hpsi - Guild 7258 [2CDI 139 min
Paul Parsons
counts Lionel Rogg among his teachers. His Bach is thoughtful, conventionally
expressive but not dull. His performance is not note-perfect, and the sound is
sometimes a little harsh, but his clear-cut, no-nonsense musicality makes for a
very refreshing listening experience. A few examples: the slow section of the
French Overture's first movement unfolds in a moderate tempo with
straightforward phrasing; Parsons doesn't overdot the rhythms, doesn't try to
inflect the music with a lot of pomposity. In the closing "echo" movement, I
hear a certain emphasizing of the phrases that's very effective; Parsons's
moderate tempo enhances the effect. He massages the tempo ever so slightly in
the Sarabande from the first French Suite, making the movement sound tender but
not too profound. His incisive and varied articulation in the gigue from the
Fifth Suite accounts for the performance's unusual interest. Parsons brings the
program to an effective close with a fine reading of the A-minor Prelude and
Fugue, though I still prefer Andreas Staier's lightning-fast rendition for
German Harmonia Mundi.
For the French
Suites, the recent releases by David Cates on Musie & Arts (Nov/Dec 2003) and
Bradley Brookshire on Purchase (Sept/Oct 2003) make a stronger and more
unforgettable impression, but Parsons offers a fine middle-of-the-road
alternative. I still hope Ralph Kirkpatrick's old performance of the French
Overture on DG Archiv will make it to CD; his sense of style and imaginative
registration outclass all of his recorded competition.
HASKINS
MusicWeb Thursday July 24 03
Johann
Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
French Overture and French Suites
French Overture BWV 831 (?date) [31:30]
French Suites (c.1722)
No.1 in D Minor BWV 812 [15:05]
No.2 in C Minor BWV 813 [15:18]
No.3 in B Minor BWV 814 [16:10]
No.4 in E Flat BWV 815 [14:16]
No.5 in G BWV 816 [17:38]
No.6 in E BWV 817 [17:07]
Prelude and Fugue in A Minor BWV 894 [10:57]
Paul
Parsons: harpsichord
Rec. North Transept, Priory Church of Our Lady and St.Cuthbert, Worksop,
England, March 2001
GUILD
GMCD 7258/9
[2:18:42]
It goes without saying
that Johann Sebastian Bach is among the greatest composers who ever lived. It is
simply hard to comprehend how a single individual could conceive of so much
music in so many different combinations of instruments, not to mention the
hundreds of works he wrote for church choirs. There was a time when he was
obliged to produce a church cantata for each and every Sunday (198
in all!) – the mind truly boggles.
As the fairly extensive
liner notes in this 2 disc set explain, we can sometimes lose sight of Bach’s
humanity as a result of the sheer nature of his musical genius, and the great
religious choral works and those for organ, as well as the Well Tempered
Clavier, tend to imply that his great aim was to create works out of the range
of ordinary men. However, as Derek Adlam points out "This overlooks the fact
that stylised dance music formed a very large part of Bach’s output, and that
these works allow us to understand better the true nature of his humanity and
personality." He goes on to say that suites of instrumental dance pieces were
well established by the 1650s. The principal form was to provide a core of 4
pieces, each representative of a different national temperament: Allemande,
German in style and serious in content, Courante, gracefully French, Sarabande,
dignified and Spanish, and a lively Gigue, possibly based on an English dance.
To this core could be added further parts such as Bourees, Minuets, Gavottes and
Polonaises. Given Bach’s supreme understanding of counterpoint it is not
surprising that he elevated these types of works to new heights in his 3 sets of
6 suites for keyboard.
This two disc set
presents all six of his French Suites plus his French Overture, BWV 831, and one
of his Preludes and Fugues. I was immediately struck by the beautifully clear
sound Paul Parsons achieves from this instrument which is a recent copy by Adlam/Burnett
of a 1638 harpsichord made by Ioannes Ruckers (and which was lent by Richard and
Katrina Burnett from their collection at the Finchcocks Living Museum of Music –
)
It is a joy to realise how these skills of period instrument making are alive
and well and practised in many countries today. The instrument Paul Parsons
plays is a wonderful example of these skills with a truly authentic sound. His
refined playing of these brilliant works makes this a set that will please all
lovers of the harpsichord. As far as I am concerned, however, 2 CDs worth of
this is too much for my musical appetite to digest in one sitting and I prefer
to treat it as less of a feast and more of a buffet, and simply graze.
Steve Arloff
New Classics 16.05.2003
On this outstanding double-CD album the
virtuoso harpsichordist Paul Parsons plays works by Johann Sebastian Bach. These
include his brilliant French Overture, French Suites (Nos. 1 to 6) and the
wonderful Prelude & Fugue in A minor. The French Suites probably acquired their
nickname from being much lighter in style than his other suites for keyboard
instruments, and these are outstanding performances of some of the composer’s
most delightful and rewarding works
Page revised 02.04.04
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