Bach • Arvo Pärt JS Bach: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2; Concerto for Two Violins*; Arvo Pärt: Fratres; Spiegel im Spiegel Arabella Steinbacher, *Christoph Koncz (violin); Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra Pentatone PTC 5187 017 68:56 mins
Bach’s three surviving violin concertos (two solo, one double) have been recorded by the most illustrious names, but with the exception of Alina Ibragimova (whose sensational Hyperion disc exchanges the Double Concerto for three expert solo reconstructions), I can’t recall them being played so sensitively as here by Arabella Steinbacher.
Where Menuhin, Oistrakh and Szeryng (all outstanding exponents of the post-Romantic tradition) view the solo line as being of prime interest throughout, Steinbacher weaves in and out of Bach’s contrapuntal textures, occasionally reducing her tone to a radiant pianissimo to allow the orchestral lines through. This is especially revealing in the E major Concerto (No. 2), where the masking of important leading voices often creates the strange impression of Bach marking time while he ambles through harmonic transitions. Not here, however, as Steinbacher nimbly keeps everything fresh and vibrant, shaping her phrases in the timeless central Adagio with a captivating inner glow that is unforgettable. And in the Double Concerto there is absolutely no sense of ‘star’ and ‘guest’ players, but a true collaboration that in the famous slow movement finds both violinists musically entwining with a naturalness that captures the music as if spellbound by its radiant genius.
Steinbacher bookends the Bach concertos with Pärt’s Fratres (with strings and percussion) and Spiegel im Spiegel (with piano), in which she demonstrates the same hypnotic voicing of cantabile lines that makes her Bach so treasurable.
Julian Haylock
