Search - Christophe Rousset :: Christophe Rousset ~ W. F. Bach - 12 Polonaises

Rare re-issue from 1984

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 09/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is definitely a recording that grows on you the more you listen to it. Johann Sebastian Bach's eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-1784) published his twelve 'Polonaises' (originally a Polish dance) in 1764, fourteen years after the death of his father, and there is a remarkable progress to be observed from the much more conservative works of Johann Sebastian (which may well explain why these twelve pieces have remained in the standard repertoire instead of disappearing into oblivion like most of Wilhelm Friedemann's output). To use the words of Simon Heighes' helpful liner notes, the music is 'mercurial, highly expressive, full of syncopated rhythms' and 'revels in unpredictable constrasts of mood, style and texture'. I found it difficult listening at first, but soon warmed both to the compositions and the playing: Christophe Rousset, back in 1984 still more or less unknown, delights the listener with some fine ornamentation and manages to make the slower pieces sound poignant and really interesting. As an encore he plays W. F. Bach's Sonata in E flat major, published in the year of his death (1784). This sounds much more conventional, but has a fascinating Largo central movement that well bears listening to intensely.



Unfortunately, the recording company has not seen fit to give the listener any information whatsoever about the instrument used, but it has a fine, silvery tone that sometimes seems just a little too metallic. The booklet does not discuss whether this music is better played on a harpsichord or a fortepiano, and while I was listening I thought I heard a number of passages which might have sounded even better on a fortepiano. There is, in fact, a fortepiano recording made by Harald Hoeren for the German specialist label cpo, and it would perhaps be advisable to listen in to both before deciding which to purchase (assuming that this rather rare re-issue from EMI Belgium is still available)."