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GRAMOPHONE (08/2013)
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Chandos
CHAN0796
Code-barres / Barcode : 0095115079621
Reviewer: Jed
Distler
Yates and her Garlick play
Bach’s Vivaldi arrangements
Sophie Yates offers eight of Bach’s 16 Weimarperiod concerto transcriptions
in performances that outclass most of the catalogue competition. In contrast
to the more robust-sounding instruments used by Elizabeth Farr (Naxos) and
Peter Watchorn (Hänssler) in their Bach concerto transcription cycles, Yates
favours an Andrew Garlick harpsichord modelled after a French 1748 Goujon
instrument, whose lighter, more transparent sonorities more subtly
differentiate the music’s solo and ensemble textures. At times one might
miss Watchorn’s tonal heft and tasteful agogics, yet Yates’s crisp, direct
interpretations satisfy more consistently than Farr’s relatively mannered
playing.
Compare, for
example, Yates’s ebullient treatment of the famous main theme of the first
movement of the C major Concerto (BWV976) with the way it alternately lurches
ahead or lags behind in Farr’s hands. Watchorn’s rhythmically stiff reading of
the Gigue of the G minor Concerto (BWV975) also yields to Yates’s swiftly
singing version. Notice, too, how Yates embellishes the opening Adagio of the C
minor Concerto (BWV981; not a transcription of Vivaldi but of Benedetto
Marcello) while her slow basic pulse remains firm yet never rigid. Her finely
honed legato technique shines in slow movements: one telling instance occurs in
the C major Largo of BWV976 (based on Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico, Op 3 No 12),
where Yates’s slight finger overlapping between note attacks and releases create
a sense of sustained resonance that justifies her measured pace. Yates’s
informative, well-written notes complement the stylish sensitivity of her
harpsichord artistry, together with Chandos’s vivid, realistic sound. Let’s hope
that the remaining eight Bach concerto transcriptions with Yates are on the
horizon.
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