Johann Sebastian Bach: 6 Partitas - Trevor Pinnock

Johann Sebastian Bach
6 Partitas
Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 415 493-2

Bach clearly set great store by the Partitas, gathering them together as the first book of his Clavier-Ubung and publishing it in 1731 as his Op. I, as we still do today. The Partitas still march on but recordings are (often regrettably) apt to fall by the wayside, in this case leaving only one set (de la Porte on Hyperion) by a harpsichordist (LP only) and three by pianists (Andras Schiff on Decca—LP 411 732-1DH2, CD 411 732-2DH2, 8/ 85; Gould on LP only—CBS 77289, 2/73; Steuerman on LP only—Philips/I MS 412 546/7-1, 8/85). We can thus hardly complain that two new sets should have arrived at the same time. Pinnock (as harpsichordist) is the first to compress them on to two records, by omitting numerous repeats and setting some pretty lively tempos, an exercise of greater economic than artistic merit. Presumably in order to adapt acceptably to the LP format, the running order is changed—Nos. 1, 2, 4/5, 3, 6, a regrouping that may mildly irritate those who listen with the score in hand—and which might have been rectified (but is not) on the CDs, thus making them more 'user-friendly'. Another, more amiable 'hiccup' occurs in Partitas Nos. 4 and 6: in each, Gilbert places the Aria after the Sarabande,' where it does not interrupt the basic sequence of Allemande-Courante-Sarabande (c.f. French Suite No, 4, BWV815), maintaining that the published order was aimed at avoiding awkward page-turns. I find the result convincing.

Of the three harpsichordists, Pinnock is the most given to extremes of tempo, well ahead of the field in the Courantes/Correntes (that in Partita No. 1 is uncomfortably rushed) and sundry other movements but the back-marker in the Allemandes of Partitas Nos. 4-6, the Gigue of No. 6 (rather laboured) and the Sarabandes of Partitas Nos. 4-6. At this level tempos are as much an expression of personality as, for instance, the approach to embellishment; de la Porte stands between the more mercurial and fast-fingered Pin nock and the less demonstrative but thoughtfully expressive Gilbert. All three add such ornaments as seem to be implied in terms of stress, beyond which limits lies a minefield in these works where the written ornamentation comes as close to selfsufficiency as one may find. Gilbert is very circumspect, making his only significant venture in the Sarabande of Partita No. 5, but Pinnock and, even more, de la Porte, take their courage in both hands with many happy diminutions—the latter does so even in the already-florid Sarabande of No. 6, enhancing its majestic outpouring (the upward sweep in bar 4 of the B section is memorable). The use of inegales is an area in which all three players find common ground, notably in the problematical Gigue of Partita No. 6. On the whole, all three make conservative use of changes of registration, reserving them for repeats, but Pinnock displays a love of the buff stop in several galanteries and de la Porte shows her only eccentricity in her kaleidoscopic treatment of the Rondeaux of Partita No. 2.

The instruments all serve well the basic purpose of tonal richness and textural clarity, and are superbly recorded: a copy of the Couchet-Taskin from the Raymond Russell Collection by Michael Johnson (de la Porte), a Couchet-Taskin-Blanchet (1671-1778—Gilbert), and a copy of a Hemsch (c.1760) by David Way (Pinnock).

If economics are a significant factor, choose Pinnock's ebullient set. Otherwise settle for de la Porte, or, if you feel that what you want is the text, the whole text and nothing (barring a few logically-added ornaments) but the text, then go for Gilbert. Collectively, the three recordings show the variety of ways in which the Partitas, like most other great music, may validly be treated. In a Desert-Island situation I'd choose de la Porte, but that is a personal reaction rather than a solid recommendation.

J.D., Gramophone Magazine