Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Harpischord

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Bach's Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord hardly lack for excellent recorded versions in the period instrument department, including these sensitive and musicianly collaborations between Giuliano Carmignola and Andrea Marcon. Tempos rarely move faster than the music can sing, and cultivated vocalism characterizes Carmignola's sweet, silvery timbre, which differs from Andrew Manze's grittier approach. Indeed, you hardly notice Carmignola's bow arm at all in the way his long, sustained notes seem to materialize from within the harpsichord. A genuine give and take prevails as the musicians effortlessly adjust to each other's foreground and background roles. Carmignola eschews the whimsical embellishments Fabio Biondi brings to these scores, yet he varies repeats through subtle changes in accent, color, and phrasing. Sony's spacious engineering contrasts to the Podger-Pinnock edition's close-up, analytical sonics, yet the instruments resonate with full-bodied clarity. This release, in sum, is more than just a worthwhile contender in a crowded catalog. --Jed Distler

Tracks:

Sonata No.1 In B Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1014: I. Adagio
Sonata No.1 In B Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1014: II. Allegro
Sonata No.1 In B Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1014: III. Andante
Sonata No.1 In B Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1014: IV. Allegro
Sonata No.2 In A Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1015: I. (Dolce)
Sonata No.2 In A Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1015: II. Allegro
Sonata No.2 In A Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1015: III. Andante Un Poco
Sonata No.2 In A Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1015: IV. Presto
Sonata No.3 In E Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1016: I. Adagio
Sonata No.3 In E Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1016: II. Allegro
Sonata No.3 In E Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1016: III. Adagio Ma Non Tanto
Sonata No.3 In E Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1016: IV. Allegro

Tracks:

Sonata No.4 In C Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1017: I. Largo
Sonata No.4 In C Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1017: II. Allegro
Sonata No.4 In C Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1017: III. Adagio
Sonata No.4 In C Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1017: IV. Allegro
Sonata No.5 In F Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1018: I. Largo
Sonata No.5 In F Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1018: II. Allegro
Sonata No.5 In F Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1018: III. Adagio
Sonata No.5 In F Minor For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1018: IV. Vivace
Sonata No.6 In G Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1019: I. Allegro
Sonata No.6 In G Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1019: II. Largo
Sonata No.6 In G Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1019: III. Allegro (Harpsichord Solo)
Sonata No.6 In G Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1019: IV. Adagio
Sonata No.6 In G Major For Violin And Harpsichord, BWV 1019: V. Allegro

Amazon.com

Bach's Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord hardly lack for excellent recorded versions in the period instrument department, including these sensitive and musicianly collaborations between Giuliano Carmignola and Andrea Marcon. Tempos rarely move faster than the music can sing, and cultivated vocalism characterizes Carmignola's sweet, silvery timbre, which differs from Andrew Manze's grittier approach. Indeed, you hardly notice Carmignola's bow arm at all in the way his long, sustained notes seem to materialize from within the harpsichord. A genuine give and take prevails as the musicians effortlessly adjust to each other's foreground and background roles. Carmignola eschews the whimsical embellishments Fabio Biondi brings to these scores, yet he varies repeats through subtle changes in accent, color, and phrasing. Sony's spacious engineering contrasts to the Podger-Pinnock edition's close-up, analytical sonics, yet the instruments resonate with full-bodied clarity. This release, in sum, is more than just a worthwhile contender in a crowded catalog. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

Amazingly beautiful.......2004-12-15

I can not expect any more than this one! Bach is played with uncomparable taste and precise apprehension of Bach on this CD! I recommand to any one that gets tired of searching for a right one .there is another recording worthy of any cost:the recording by Musica alta ripa of DMG!and I am very sorry to have read an unjust criticism.but It is not worth a glance !

musical taste.......2002-11-22

I am amazed at B. Johnson's critique of this cd and of stylistically informed performances in general. Obviously, one who thinks that Isaac Stern's rendition of Bach's sonatas is the standerd to be emulated has absolutly no musical taste! Giuliano Carmignola's performance provides such a fresh and exciting interpretation to music which used to be labeled as boring and trite. Take Johnson's words with a grain of salt!

Carmignola strikes again.......2002-07-26

After Carmignola most excellent recording of Vivaldi Concertos I was very interested to listen to the Bach recording, since Bach is in a completely different musical world than Vivaldi, although both are nevertheless from the same style period (i.e. Baroque). Carmignola is reknown for being an excellent Baroque violinst - and indeed he is (so do not listen too much to the one star comment). Being a (after work) violinist my self I simply enjoy listening to him and his counterpart: both are engaged in a dialogue throughout the 6 sonatas, the violin being sometimes in the foreground, sometimes the harpsichord with most astonishing dynamic changes in between those two instruments and within each of the instruments. Playing lots of Vivaldi has done no harm to this Bach interpretation, it may well have put a new aspect into it. The recording is technically also excellent, presenting a very warm, very balanced full sound.

Bach Beautifully Played.......2002-07-05

Giuliano Carmignola is a musician's musician. He was "discovered" by Sony when he was around the age of 50, having spent many decades in a corner of Italy quietly, calmly doing what he loves to do: playing music, considering music. We know this because we can clearly hear this in his sound. His sound never harangues, but its beauty compels us to listen. (Music, after all,is the art of manipulating sound.) It is not anti-music to play beautifully, although in these times of the vociferous "authentic" movement spokesmen, it might be politically incorrect. Being a working classical musician myself (I'm a violist), I inevitably find it wildly amusing to read protests by the so-called authentic movement. Many sound like they actually believe they are channeling past lives (and aural memory) from the eighteenth century. They conveniently forget that the Baroque Period (1600-1750) was Dionysian (and therefore "Romantic") and not Apollonian. And they very self righteously try to snooker us into believing that they alone know what a body of work stands for, as if any one human being could possibly define that for the rest of us. A body of work stands for nothing, it simply is. Art always is the sum total of the experience we bring to it, "experience" being the operative word here. Ask any old geezer musical icon what is the most important in music, and you will inevitably get the same answer: music is about concentration and it is about intention. From the point of view of rendering a satisfying performance, what is printed on the page is merely the beginning of the process -- and in the end, the least important. For unless an artist takes the printed page and then runs with it according to his own unique and inimitable experience, what is rendered sadly becomes something that a synthesizer also could have produced. I wince thinking of the enormous amount of recorded music out there that falls into this category and of the people who sigh, "I just don't like classical music." I say they just don't like performances that bring nothing to the printed page.Carmignola and Marcon bring their honest selves to the performance of this music. The pleasure of their honesty and the beauty of their sound fills this listener with immense satisfaction.

You guys must be kidding........2002-05-29

The fact that Gould's Bach recordings are still one of Sony's major cash cows, must have given these fellows the idea that recognition of the brand name will make just any Bach recording sell.

As a person who has seen the development of the authentic movement from close range, I still should not be considered among its greatest fans. There are exceptions. Recently, I really like Wispelwey on cello and have become a great fan of Podger on violin. It has been said that Bach's music is so strong that no performance can invalidate it. Well, here Giuliano Carmignola and Andrea Marcon prove believers of that credo wrong.

It has always been the intention of the authentic movement to remove all the false romanticisms from the Bach performance. Yet, it may be me, but the mannerisms of people like Koopman and Leonhardt have always seemed like a replacement of old romanticisms with new ones. Extrapolating that notion to the infinite, we end up with this disc. I admit that Robert Schumann's piano parts added to Bach's works for solo violin are downright weird, but what these guys to Bach on this disc should come as a not too distant second.

With a catalog that is full of good traditional recordings (e.g. Szeryng, Mullova, Stern) and a recent slew of authentic ones (Podger clear first choice, Manze distant second) the world was not really waiting for anther version. But, in a perverse twist to Gould's dogma "the only reason to make a new recording is to do it differently", the Italian guys must have thought, "let's see how Accardo and Pollini would play these works and do the absolute opposite". This recording is so insanely bad and opposed to all that Bach stands for that I see it as a Guinness Book of Records contender for a musical record version of "the inmates are running the asylum".

Why still one star? Well my fellow Amazonians because that is the minimal one can give.
Yet, the recording quality is very good, so let's give that star to the engineers.

John Sebastian Bach: 6 Sonatas For Violin And Harpischord
Average customer rating:
John Sebastian Bach: 6 Sonatas For Violin And Harpischord

Manufacturer: Deutsche Harmonia Mun
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by J.S. Bach | Bach, Johann Sebastian | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
Violin | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Bach J.S: 3 Sonatas For Viola Da Gamba And Harpischord [Germany]

Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concertos, BWV 1041-1043 - Sigiswald Kuijen / La Petite Bande

Bach: Sonatas & Partitas, BWV 1001-1006

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 [Germany]

J.S. Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier II

ASIN: B000026N58
Release Date: 1990-04-01