Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Konstantin Scherbakov :: Leopold Godowsky: Transcriptions of Bach Cello Suites Nos. 2, 3, 5

Godowsky's Recomposition of Three Bach Cello Suites

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 05/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It would appear that the music of Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) has come into its own in the past few years with recordings by several pianists of his transcriptions (recomposition, really) of the Chopin Etudes, a landmark recording by Marc-André Hamelin of his Passacaglia based on the first eight measures of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and of his Sonata. Not least of these is the series of CDs of various Godowsky works performed by the marvelous Konstantin Scherbakov. Now comes his traversal of Godowsky's recompositions (and one really must call them that) of three of Bach's cello suites (Nos. 2, 3, & 5). He did these in the 1920s and played them on tour, along with the arrangements he made of the solo violin suites. It must be understood that, like with the Chopin Etudes, Godowsky took the framework of each piece and made something entirely new out of it. In the case of these cello suites he took what was written after all for a single-line instrument, the cello, and recast it for two-handed pianist. To do so took real imagination and more than a bit of daring. At times one does not even recognize the source for Godowsky's music. Still there is counterpoint galore and baroque ornamentation supported by rather more chromatic harmony than one finds in Bach. The result is a romantic-sounding hybrid that can either amaze or infuriate. I count myself in the former camp; these are works that are full of wonder for me. How did he do it? A question I cannot answer.



Scherbakov is, as one knows from his earlier recordings, a sensitive and musicianly pianist. There doesn't appear to be anything he can't play and he has given us treasurable recordings of such disparate works as the Liszt/Beethoven symphonies, the Second and Third Piano Concertos of Rachmaninoff and some Scarlatti sonatas, along with much else. One finds that he does no less here. He is able to maintain crystal clear delineation of counterpoint while limning Bach's melodies with perfect legato, and all the while giving all the movements a dance-like impetus. If anything, one feels he makes it seem too easy; in a sense that goes against the thrust of these works because they gain from the listener sensing the difficulty of managing it all without the whole thing falling apart. On the whole, though, one can only marvel at his skill while gaping at the logic and beauty of the music itself. I particularly liked how Scherbakov elaborates Godowsky's extended fugue in the first movement of Suite No. 5, conveys the courtliness of the bourree in Suite No. 3, and gives one the sense of time standing still in the Second Suite's sarabande.



If there is another recording of these Bach/Godowsky pieces, I don't know it, but I'm quite satisfied with this one.



TT=72:17



Scott Morrison"