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Seeing this album’s title, I couldn’t help but picture Oliver Twist with arms stretched out in hunger. But it’s not gruel on offer here – far from it, really, as Rinaldo Alessandrini brings us transcriptions, arrangements and adaptations of Bach, glorious Bach. While there’s nothing new about the concept, this isn’t just a case of going back for seconds. Here is an album that teems with exceptionally joyful and classy playing: it is one for posterity. We open with the Overture in the French Style in B minor, BWV831, from ClavierÜbung II (one bugbear is Naïve’s eschewal of capital letters – this is, clearly, not the ‘overture in the french style’ – and it looks even more ridiculous in the German). Concerto Italiano do very well to sustain such charged playing, particularly in such a lengthy ouverture movement. Indeed, some of the loveliest playing is just after the eight-minute mark. Charismatic solos from violinist Boris Begelman and viola player Ettore Belli sparkle and chatter. But it’s absurd to single these two out, for the continuo consistently chugs along with zest (with Alessandrini himself on harpsichord). It is truly excellent playing.
The disc’s highlight is the same Overture’s closing movement, titled ‘Echo’. Such movements could easily come across as gimmicky, and Alessandrini does extremely well to craft a structure that entertains from start to finish without feeling the least bit cheap. The playing, especially from Begelman and bassoonist Alessandro Nasello, oozes with slickedback cool. My only musical criticism is the fashioning of the album’s close (for this Overture in G, Alessandrini gathers together movements from different works). Here, the Gigue from BWV820 feels too abrupt a close: I’m desperate for something equally joyful but with a bit more meat. But perhaps this is exactly the point: my ears, like Oliver’s tummy, are left wanting more – please! |
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