Not so long ago in these pages I reviewed a recording of Bach's six Sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord by Dimitry Sitkovetsky and Robert Hill (Hannsler Bach-Edition, 7/99). From a stylistic and interpretative standpoint, the two artists seemed poles apart, with Hill, additionally and quite mistakenly, being accorded by the recording balance a merely supporting status rather than of one of true partnership. For these pieces are, to all intents and purposes, trios in which the violin and right hand of the harpsichord supply the first and second melodic strands, and the left hand of the harpsichord that of the bass. Such an ambitious concept was an early and significant departure from the status quo of the continuo sonata, and one which Bach developed with innovative flair and consummate technical mastery.
It is, perhaps, an indication of the supreme challenge that confronts violinists in these sonatas, that after listening to at least five recently issued recordings, by Menuhin, Sitkovetsky, Holloway and Manze and the newcomer under discussion, Marianne Ronez - I am still left feeling unsatisfied. Each of these players demonstrates his or her individual approach to the music and each manages most of the faster movements pretty well. It is in the often wide-ranging melodic contours of the slow movements that these performances disappoint me most of all. I am certainly not looking for a more romantic interpretation - Sitkovetsky and, to a lesser extent, Menuhin are at least ankle-deep in that water - but I do feel the need for greater expressive warmth, more poetry and more lyricism. Certainly, many of the sonatas are lovingly shaped by Holloway, but there's a meagreness of tone about all the versions cited which ill-serves the cause of these admittedly challenging pieces whose elusive potential is notoriously difficult to bring off successfully.
Ronez and her harpsichordist, Ernst Kubitschek, sustain an even partnership and work together effectively, yet the cheerless acoustic in which they are recorded does nothing for the intimate chamber character of the music, and there is a perfunctoriness about some of the playing. In summary, my choice at the moment, a reluctant one I'm afraid, would be between Manze (who also includes an alternative version of BWV1019, three continuo sonatas and an arrangement for solo violin of the famous organ Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV565) and Ronez.'