JS BACH Concertos for solo harpsichord and strings Vol 1
Finnish harpsichordist plays concertos on a Hass copy
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johann Sebastian Bach
Label: Mono
Magazine Review Date: 03/2013
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: AE-10057

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Aapo Häkkinen, Musician, Harpsichord Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Concerto in the Italian style, 'Italian Concerto' |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Aapo Häkkinen, Musician, Harpsichord Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer |
Author: Lindsay Kemp
Yet Häkkinen does not wear it out, using it only to increase his dynamic and textural range, and there’s a compelling stillness and minimalism in the solo episode starting at 2'28" in the D minor’s first movement, while elsewhere neat fingerwork is illuminated by the delicate voicing of his instrument, a Hass copy which once belonged to Igor Kipnis no less (though not the one on which he recorded these concertos with Marriner in the late 1960s). Perhaps, indeed, a desire to prevent the rush of sound from taking over can go too far, resulting in some over-clipped articulation and cautious tempi (in first movements mainly), and a deleterious effect on forward momentum. But when they do get going, these performances are enjoyable, even thrilling. And there appear to be no inhibitions in the rip-roaring Italian Concerto that rounds off the disc, in which the harpsichord, transported now to a church acoustic, achieves almost organ-like fullness. Wow!
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