N.Y.で無伴奏バッハで高い評価を得たTetzlaff

つい先日バンベルグ交響楽団の日本でのブラームス・チクルスでヴァイオリン協奏曲を好演したChristian Tetzlaff が，ニューヨークでバッハの無伴奏曲を名演したことが報じられています．

バッハの無伴奏ヴァイオリン・ソナタ3曲，無伴奏ヴィオリン・パルティータは難曲として知られており，ヴァイオリン・リサイタルでその1曲でも　if the violinist has the technique and imagination to surmount its difficulties and give it a richly characterized performance　確かなテクニックで内容豊に演奏されれば，それはたいへんご馳走なのだけれども，もし１回で 6曲が見事に演奏されれば，hearing all six of these works in an afternoon is a kind of classical music nirvana それはもう涅槃（ねはん）の境地にも似た経験になると書き出しています．

テルラフが，10月25日マティネーで，この6曲を演奏し，6曲が緊密に結びついた曲だということを実感させる名演だったと評論しています．　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　his performances supported an argument he made in the program book: “These six pieces are a cycle, a very clearly indicated cycle,” he said, with a distinct architecture and a series of musical connections — key relationships and thematic overflow among works, for example — that cannot be accidental.

それを実証するモノとして，the monumental Chaconne that closes the Partita No. 2 in D minor (BWV 1004) is the set’s dramatic and emotional center of gravity, and he has a point: the next movement in the set, the opening Adagio of the Sonata No. 3 in C (BWV 1005) is overshadowed by the Chaconne’s dark mood.　と，パルチータ No.2 の終曲，有名な「シャコンヌ」が，ヴァイオリン・ソナタ第3番の第1楽章アダージオと結びついていることを，テツラフは実証して見せたそうです．

掲載文の中間は飛ばしますが，結論として，　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　What has deepened is the intensity of the emotional charge he draws from this music, in readings that match Bach’s 18th-century ingenuity with passion and warmth in the here and now. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　とほとんど絶賛しています．

 

Music Review | Christian Tetzlaff

Emphasizing Bach’s Unity

                                                                                                                        By ALLAN KOZINN        Published: October 26, 2009

                                                                                                               Hearing one of Bach’s sonatas or partitas for unaccompanied violin in a recital is usually a treat, if the violinist has the technique and imagination to surmount its difficulties and give it a richly characterized performance. And with that same qualification, hearing all six of these works in an afternoon is a kind of classical music nirvana.

Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　The violinist Christian Tetzlaff at his Sunday afternoon concert of Bach sonatas and partitas at the 92nd Street Y. He presented them not as isolated works but as a group of pieces full of links.

Christian Tetzlaff, who has made two superb recordings of these works (on Virgin Classics in 1993 and on Hänssler Classic in 2005), played all six at the 92nd Street Y on Sunday afternoon, and his performances supported an argument he made in the program book: “These six pieces are a cycle, a very clearly indicated cycle,” he said, with a distinct architecture and a series of musical connections — key relationships and thematic overflow among works, for example — that cannot be accidental.

                                                                                                                     One of his main contentions is that the monumental Chaconne that closes the Partita No. 2 in D minor (BWV 1004) is the set’s dramatic and emotional center of gravity, and he has a point: the next movement in the set, the opening Adagio of the Sonata No. 3 in C (BWV 1005) is overshadowed by the Chaconne’s dark mood. Even though Mr. Tetzlaff stopped for applause and a moment offstage between the two works, his use of exactly the same coloration he brought to the Chaconne at the start of the Adagio drove home the point almost as clearly as if he had moved directly from the partita into the sonata.

Mr. Tetzlaff proved his broader point too — that the works expand in seriousness as they approach the Chaconne and lighten thereafter, as they head toward the ebullient Partita No. 3 in E (BWV 1006) — though there was room for debate. Yes, that final partita has the sunniest Prelude and is devoted mostly to zesty dance movements. But Mr. Tetzlaff did not shy away from deep introspection in the Loure, and he showed that the variations in the spirited Gavotte en Rondeau are hardly trifles.

He also demonstrated that the fugues in each of the three sonatas give the Chaconne serious competition in weightiness and grandeur, and simply in formal terms, a fugue trumps a chaconne any day. For that matter, Mr. Tetzlaff’s performances were reminders that there are no insignificant movements in this set: few listeners would single out the Doubles of the Partita No. 1 in B minor (BWV 1002) as particular favorites, yet Mr. Tetzlaff’s phrasing made them more magnetic than ever. And you don’t normally hear the closing Presto of the Sonata No. 1 in G minor (BWV 1001) played with the sheer fury he brought to it.

Technique is never an issue with this violinist. The clarity and solidity he brings to the music’s chordal writing remain among the most striking characteristics of his Bach playing, as does the sharp articulation he uses to suggest independent lines of counterpoint. What has deepened is the intensity of the emotional charge he draws from this music, in readings that match Bach’s 18th-century ingenuity with passion and warmth in the here and now.