JS Bach - Partitas & Sonatas, BWV1001-1006
£22.75
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Label: Delphian
Cat No: DCD34300
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 2
Genre: Instrumental
Release Date: 21st July 2023
Contents
Artists
Bojan Cicic (violin)About
Hearing guitarist Sean Shibe’s Bach recital, recorded in Delphian’s fifteenth-century Scottish venue, Baroque violinist Bojan Čičić was inspired during the first lockdown to begin recording Bach’s iconic Partitas and Sonatas. Amid the gloom of the pandemic and restrictions on performances, Čičić travelled north – when allowed – to explore the intense rigours of Bach’s fugues and shining virtuosity of the Partitas’ fast movements.
Dedicated to his late violin professor and with a booklet essay written by Mahan Esfahani, for Bojan Čičić the making of this recording in the snowbound Scottish countryside has been his greatest career highlight – a journey for him from darkness into light.
Dedicated to his late violin professor and with a booklet essay written by Mahan Esfahani, for Bojan Čičić the making of this recording in the snowbound Scottish countryside has been his greatest career highlight – a journey for him from darkness into light.
Sound/Video
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1Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 1. Allemanda
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2Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 2. Double I
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3Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 3. Corrente
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4Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 4. Double II (Presto)
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5Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 5. Sarabande
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6Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 6. Double III
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7Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 7. Tempo di Borea
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8Partita No.1 in B minor, BWV 1002: 8. Double IV
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9Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004: 1. Allemanda
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10Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004: 2. Corrente
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11Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004: 3. Sarabanda
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12Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004: 4. Giga
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13Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004: 5. Ciaccona
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14Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 1. Preludio
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15Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 2. Loure
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16Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 3. Gavotte en rondeau
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17Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 4. Menuet I
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18Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 5. Menuet II
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19Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 6. Menuet I da capo
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20Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 7. Bourrée
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21Partita No.3 in E major, BWV 1006: 8. Gigue
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22Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001: 1. Adagio
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23Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001: 2. Fuga (Allegro)
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24Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001: 3. Siciliana
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25Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001: 4. Presto
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26Sonata No.2 in A minor, BWV 1003: 1. Grave
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27Sonata No.2 in A minor, BWV 1003: 2. Fuga
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28Sonata No.2 in A minor, BWV 1003: 3. Andante
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29Sonata No.2 in A minor, BWV 1003: 4. Allegro
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30Sonata No.3 in C major, BWV 1005: 1. Adagio
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31Sonata No.3 in C major, BWV 1005: 2. Fuga
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32Sonata No.3 in C major, BWV 1005: 3. Largo
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33Sonata No.3 in C major, BWV 1005: 4. Allegro assai
Europadisc Review
Recordings of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin have become increasingly frequent in recent decades. Indeed, they now seem to be a required ‘rite of passage’ for violinists of every possible kind, whether on modern instruments or ones with a period set-up and bow. It wasn’t that long ago that modern-instrument recordings heavily outnumbered ‘HIP’ ones, but now the Croatian-born Bojan Čičić – leader of the Academy of Ancient Music as well as director of his own Illyria Consort – joins the growing number of period players to set down his own version of these works on the Delphian label.
And what works they are! Comprising three Sonatas and three Partitas (suites), they bring together the two main instrumental genres of the time, building on the legacy of such violinist-composers as Westhoff, Biber, J.J. Walter and Bach’s contemporary J.G. Pisendel, all of whom wrote demanding music for solo violin, but far surpassing them in both scope and musical depth. In the surviving manuscript copies, sonatas alternate with partitas – Sonata no.1, Partita no.1, Sonata no.2, etc. – but Čičić groups the three Partitas successively on disc 1, with the three Sonatas occupying the second disc.
Although the significance of Bach’s original ordering can be debated, Čičić’s ordering has certain benefits. The listener can directly compare the astonishing formal variety of the Partitas: the First (in B minor) made up of four typical suite dances (Allemanda, Corrente, Sarabande and Borea) each followed by its own paired variation (or ‘Double’); the Second (in D minor), which starts more conventionally (albeit on an already ambitious scale) with Allemanda, Corrente, Sarabanda and Giga, but then trumps them all with the mighty Ciaccona (Chaconne), a set of 64 variations on a potent four-bar phrase, going from minor to major and back again, and in the process plumbing the depths and scaling the heights of human emotion; and finally the E major Partita, lighter, more Gallic in character, with its catchy Prelude, seductively swaying Loure, toe-tapping Gavotte, Menuets, Bourrée and airy concluding Gigue.
The four-movement Sonatas, meanwhile, follow the Corellian model, alternating slow and fast movements, with the first movement having an improvisatory feel, the second being a fugue (the most obvious instance in these works of Bach’s utilisation of suggestive counterpoint), the third a more relaxed slow movement that cools the temperature after the preceding fugal exertions, the fourth a sparkling conclusion. Even in these Sonatas, there’s variety aplenty, but hearing them alongside one another you can appreciate how the fugues gradually expand in scale: at over 11 minutes, the Fugue of the C major Sonata is one of Bach’s most ambitious for any instrument, and all the more remarkable as a vehicle for a lone violin.
Čičić’s command of period style is second to none, the tuning immaculate, the tone attractive but with a pleasingly ‘grainy’ aspect (he uses an Italian instrument dating from 1701). His mastery of the frequent double- and triple- and quadruple-stopped chords is formidable. Occasionally, as in the Giga of the D minor Partita, he chops up the phrasing a little too much for some tastes, but his refusal to be hurried (in contrast to many of his period-instrument rivals in these works) reaps huge rewards in terms of formal cohesion and a sense of long-range thinking. It is this capacity for pacing that makes the famous D minor Ciaccona as well as the Fugues of the three Sonatas particularly memorable in these performances. The slow movements, too, benefit from Čičić’s patient way.
Yet there’s no lack of excitement, either: the Presto Double of the B minor Corrente goes at a cracking pace, every note sparklingly articulated. Echo effects are deployed without exaggeration, and the E major Partita has a wonderfully buoyant feel without ever feeling pushed. There is some occasional slightly clunky editing (between the dances and their Doubles in Partita no.1, and at the da capo of Menuet I in Partita no.3); but against this set the command of steady tempo, the subtle use of rubato and the general lack of sensationalism. The result is a thoughtful, mature traversal of these masterpieces that seems to grow in stature on each successive listening, where others make a bigger initial splash but the excitement soon pales.
Although not producing a ‘big’ sound in conventional terms, Čičić is arguably at his strongest in the broader canvases of the D minor Partita and the Sonatas. Taken as a whole – and with an ideally resonant acoustic in the Crichton Collegiate Church in Midlothian, and perceptive notes by Mahan Esfahani, no less – these are accounts of the Partitas and Sonatas (sic!) that stand out In a crowded catalogue against starry competition. We’ll certainly be returning to them again and again.
Reviews
Avoiding some violinists’ febrile interpretations, Cicic likes to keep his dignity, though that doesn’t stop his presto movements from being dizzying. His double-stopped flourishes are impressive, too. ... The end result is an album that splendidly showcases Bach’s special pleasure: music that engages both heart and head, and leaves us humbled, disarmed, and uplifted. Geoff BrownThe Times
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