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International Record Review - (06//2014)
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Chandos
CHAN0802
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: 0095115080221
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This is a recommendable CD of some of Bach's greatest works for the harpsichord, well played with a touch of flair and an individual interpretative approach that removes much of this music from the museum and brings it into our living‑rooms, where it belongs. The moment one mentions an 'individual interpretative approach' the critical door is ajar for debate as to the artist's view of the music, but so far as I am concerned Steven Devine's performances are of such consistent quality that, although occasionally I depart from his view, they certainly deserve serious attention.
The opening item, the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, is one of Bach's most original creations, and there is an admirable sense of free‑ranging imagination about Devine's reading of the Fantasia that sounds ‑ surely, as it should ‑ as though the music is a spontaneous improvisation, yet not so free in its approach as to abjure any structural sense (in this case, melodic and harmonic strengths). The Fugue is ‑ because of its nature ‑ somewhat more matter‑of-fact, at least in its (for Bach) rather hard‑nosed exposition, and its sense of forward movement could perhaps have been conveyed better by a slightly faster tempo and the incorporation of a trill on the left‑hand C sharp in bar 64 (this is a later editorial suggestion but is one of which I think Bach would have approved); at that point, it just needs a touch of 'moving on'. But it is only because‑ Devine’s performances are musically so compelling that even a tiny detail such as that is worth mentioning.
Yet I wonder, too, about Devine's account of the 'Italian' Variations: the first variation is
marked 'Largo' and, for example, the fourth is marked 'Allegro', but they are taken at
virtually the same tempo. The 'variety' of Bach's astonishing Italianate music should have been, I submit, subjected to rather greater differentiation than it receives; the concluding Variation X seems rather 'matter‑of‑fact' in terms of phrasing.‑The Italian Concerto and the great French suite are, both finely played, with notably effective phrasing and generally suitable tone colour from the instrument. This is a 2000 double manual by Colin Booth after a single manual by Johann Christof Fleischer of Hamburg of 1710, and was used for Devine's earlier Chandos CD of the Goldberg Variations (reviewed in September 2011), which I have not heard, but I have not been wholly convinced as to its suitability for these larger‑scaled works ‑ at least, in terms of recording quality, for the actual sound is quite close, whereas I should have preferred a larger acoustic in terms of the 'placing' of the harpsichord within the venue. It may be that Potton Hall is not entirely suitable for a concert harpsichord, or that the music demands a larger instrument, but my personal reaction is that these works should be heard without a 'too‑close', rather concentrated sound, which is what we have here: I was surprised at having to turn down my usual listening level considerably, and although the result is acceptable, it is no more than that.
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