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4.5
People do keep on recording the rather slim amount of works that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the recorder. He himself may have preferred the traverso but was not opposed to these few works being performed on a number of instruments. This goes for the keyboard, as well, and the continuo designation could and did cover all manner of possibilities, from organ to theorbo. Often, the notes accompanying these discs will have some sort of explanation that ranges from the perfunctory to the expansive. The latter seems to have been the choice here, for there is a potted overview led off by a quote from Donald Tovey, whose musing date over half a century ago. The fact is, that Bach wrote, rearranged, and reused his music numerous times, and thus what may be a sonata for recorder could have begun life in another guise completely. The only reason I belabor this is that there exist only two bona fide “flute” sonatas (BWV 1030 and BWV 1032), both of which are arguably intended for the traverso. To fill out the disc requires some rather interesting musical gyrations. The A minor sonata (BWV 1020) is probably by Bach’s son, Emanuel. Elsewhere, the duo of Stefano Bagliano and Andrea Coen have cherry picked two trio sonatas (here performed a due), a couple of contrapuntal works drawn from such collections as Der Kunst der Fuge, and a chorale paraphrase. There is even a mention of an Adagio (BWV 543) which doesn’t seem to appear on the disc, though the notes mention it. About the performances, Bagliano is quite fine in his phrasing and technical skill, while Coen seems adaptable to both the organ and harpsichord, the former with some really interesting registrations that I don’t hear in the latter, though the Vivace of the C major Sonata (BWV 1032, here transposed in C, can be positively bubbly. The chorale tune paraphrase is also quite stately, as are the contrapuntal pieces. These have all been recorded in their original state before, and I must confess that I do not find much here that is ground-shaking. The works are pleasant enough and well-performed, but they tend with few exceptions to be rather static. Moreover, mucking about with various transpositions and non-sequitur pieces presents a program that is eclectic but not especially inspiring. If you want to hear some good playing by both performers, then perhaps this might be suitable, but for Bach, let’s just say that it doesn’t do him any favors.
