Bach Chaconne Comparison!!
Johann Sebastian Bach composed Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin that are the hallmark of a performer’s expertise. When played, these compositions expose the performer’s capabilities for all to hear. They are seemingly transparent: One cannot hide anything. You either know these, or you fall short. The performer’s style, musical feeling, phrasing, maturity, and technical expertise are all quite apparent.
For more than 300 years, violinists have struggled with all of these solo sonatas, and none is more challenging that the Bach Chaconne, BWV 1004.
Musical taste varies widely and it is a very personal thing. I will post below several current and past performers, all playing the same piece. You decide on the performance that you find most meaningful. Do let me know by entering your favorite in the comment field at the bottom of this post. (Thanks!)
1. Here is Viktoria Mullova:
2. Here is Henryk Szeryng:
3. And now, let’s hear Hilary Hahn:
4. And then the legendary Jascha Heifetz:
5. Next, Yitzhak Perlman performs the same composition:
6. And now, Nathan Milstein:
7. And last, but not least, Julia Fischer:
Yes… comparisons are tough, because recording has improved a lot since the “old days”. Sorry… Try to focus on other factors that you find more important.
Who, in your view, provides the performance that is most meaningful to you? Let me know, below…
Inspite of its clarity of structure, this Chaconne mirrors its interpreters. Each of these violinists gives it a different aura.
Mullova presents the work with simplicity of gesture. The dance origin is apparent in her performance and contributes to the unified affect she achieves. The lightness of her bowing technique, leaving “space” between notes, is particularly fitting for the cathedral in which she plays. The prevailing mood is one of calmness.
The perfection and elegance of Szeryng’s performance belies the difficulties of the work. He maintains a natural rhythmic flow that connects the emerging ideas with inevitability.
Perlman lets us know at the outset that he will not eschew brilliance. What a heroic opening! He groups the variations logically and with conviction. His sound is consistently beautiful. But one never loses sight of his virtuosity.
Heifetz and Milstein made these recordings late in their lives, and, unfortunately, their virtuosity is not always in evidence. Heifetz is unsteady rhythmically and rash in his bow strokes. Romantic excesses include portamento and seemingly unmotivated tempo changes. He said, “Take one.” I hope there was a “Take two.”
Milstein feels free to be expressive with detail and to shift speed with such frequency that he conveys little sense of the structure of the whole.
By contrast, the remaining performers, Hahn and Fischer, recorded these versions early in their careers – Hahn in her mid teens, Fischer at about 21. Hahn projects a spaciousness and majesty throughout, as though her violin were 9 feet long and her bow infinite in length. Within this broad conception, she manages to shape every phrase with compelling expression without ever detracting from the monumental edifice of the whole.
Fischer’s interpretation is soulful from the start. With gorgeous sound, she makes a heartfelt lamentation of the work. The moods she discovers evolve one after another, without exaggeration, without calling attention to her amazing technique. Whereas Hahn’s quadruple stops are sometimes percussive, Fischer’s melt into being.
If I am fortunate enough to know that my death is imminent, I hope to die with Fischer’s Chaconne playing. As I don’t expect to go anywhere after my demise, her Chaconne would be my glimpse of “heaven.”