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Reviewer: Alan
Swanson Christophe Rousset is certainly well known in the early music pages of this journal, not least for his considerable work with his own band, Les talens lyriques. Here, he takes on Book One of The Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 846–869), Book Two having been reviewed by Bertil van Boer two years ago. I have great respect for Rousset’s musicianship: I have heard him live with pleasure on many occasions, though only in the role of conductor. I was, therefore, interested to hear what he does on his own. Though he is perhaps chiefly known for his performances of French harpsichord music, especially of the Couperins, he has recorded a fair amount of Bach, for which he has received generally good, if not uncritical, reviews here (Robins, 28:1; Altena, 34:2; Brodersen, 34:6; van Boer, 37:6). Alas, the recording gets off to a bad start. It’s not really Rousset’s playing, and only partly that of the instrument—about which I encourage you to read Christopher Brodersen’s remarks noted above—but the putting of both player and instrument in an historic room at Versailles which, however “authenticke” it pretends to be, happens to give the whole business the sound of a palace bathroom. (I refrain from comment on the emetic effect of the general speed of the Second Prelude in C-Minor and the 64th-note runs in the Adagio mm. 34–35.) The sound is hard to listen to in itself, but also because the intense reverberation muddies Rousset’s generally clear articulation, even if on an instrument I find clangy and not particularly attractive for this music. Given Rousset’s choice of that instrument, however, his view of the book is intelligent and well thought out, and I much recommend reading his sensible essay in the accompanying booklet. If I say that I do not always understand his tempo choices—that Second Prelude, for example—I must add, as he does, that Bach provided almost no tempo indications. What was surprising to discover, then, was that while many of the movements seem quite fast, as is often the case these days, his total timing for the book came out quite close to that of the 60-year-old recording on piano by Jörg Demus—which still speaks in persuasive musical terms—though many of the internal details vary. While one cannot say that there has been an absolute rash of new recordings of Book One, we are certainly not without access to first-rate performances on the harpsichord, the piano, and the organ. ArkivMusic tells me there are currently 73 of all or part of Book One. | |
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