Jordi Savall and Ton Koopman plays J. S. Bach: Sonatas for Violia da Gamba and Cembalo

Johann Sebastian Bach:

Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Cembalo

- Sonata IV, C-major, BWV 529 (after Sonata V for the Organ)

- Sonata I, G-major, BWV 1027

- Sonata II, D-major, BWV 1028

- Sonata III, G-minor, BWV 1029

Jordi Savall, Violia da Gamba (Bass Viol), Ton Koopman, Cembalo (Harpsichord/Clavecin)

2000. Alia Vox AV 9812 (fullprice) (E-mail: aliavox@comuserve.com)

Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord are perhaps not among his instrumental works dwelt upon most often by recording companies. It is thus a double joy when a treat like this comes along. It is two of early music's most respected and influential artists who have teamed up in the recording of these astonishing works. Ton Koopman and Jordi Savall go back almost thirty years as musical partners, and have covered ground like the music of Marin Marais and Francois Couperin over the years. Their musical backgrounds from two of the most prolific hothouses for the studies of historically informed performance, Amsterdam and Basel have provided them with the inventiveness and talent they each in their way have shared with the world. Jordi Savall, a Catalan Violmaster par exellence has a history of recordings on Auvidis and later his own label Alia Vox, that covers the baroque music of the Hispanic world like no other. He is equally renowned for his conducting resulting in among other treats a version of Beethoven's "Eroica" not quite like other Eroicas.

Ton Koopman, once a student of periodperformance pioneer Gustav Leonhardt has left a legacy of recordings which demands attention, both as a harpsichordist and as a conductor. His ongoing Herculean task of recording Bach's complete cantatas with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra on Erato has earned him ample amounts of critical acclaim, and Koopman's credentials as a Bach performer in general are as impressive as they come.

Bach's works for the Viola da Gamba aren't appearing as a unity like the six suites for solo cello, but are to be found as isolated instances. They are also of a more differentiated formal structure than the cellosuites. Two of the sonatas (BWV 1027-28) are in the form of the Sonata da chiesa, the Church sonata, like the three sonatas for unacompanied violin. They are composed in a slow-fast-slow-fast sequence of movements. The first of these two, the sonata in G is a transcription of the sonata for two traverse flutes and basso continuo BWV 1039, while the first work on the record is a transcription by Jordi Savall of the composer's organ sonata no.5 in C, BWV 529. Both these recycling projects are treats for the listener, and only add weigth to the claim that Bach's music posesses qualities transcending instrumental limitations of most kinds. The two remaining works on the disc are to be found in their original guises.

A striking feature of these works is the remarkable interplay between the two instruments. The structuring and rythmic agent in the cembalo and the lyric voice of the viol. In these recordings this feature is prominent and all to rarely does one come across such a fine and sensitive collaboration. Ton Koopman's grasp of the rythmic aspects of the music combined with the immense poetry of Savall's Viola da Gamba in the wonderous lines of the music, make the pieces stand out in glorious garnments. The quick movements are played with vigour and a continous sense of fluency. The final allegro of the G-minor sonata is a highlight with its fabolous dialogue between the two voices, and Savall and Koopman converse with all the grace and fidelity one could wish for. Still the aspect that has captured me the most is the divine voice of Jordi Savall's Bass Viol especially in the slow movements. The long two part adagio of the G-minor sonata is realized with a song from the Viol capable of carrying even the most subtle nuance of emotion. It is absolutely sublime, I promise. The fine and sensitive interplay with the harpsichord comes off like a dreamlike etheral dance, not quite of this world.

All in all we are presented astonishoing accounts of Bach's music for the Viola da Gamba and Cembalo, captured in a close to ideal atmosphere by the Alia Vox engeneers. If you plan to dig into Bach's chambermusic, don't let this issue pass you by. This is a disc I strongly urge you to audition.

- The images are taken from the Alia Vox AV 9812 CD-booklet.