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GRAMOPHONE (08/2014)
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Chandos
CHAN0802
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: 0095115080221
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Reviewer: Jed Distler
Listeners used to a wild and woolly Bach Chromatic Fantasia might find Steven Devine’s italicised phrasing overly studied in the opening section. Follow closely, however, and you’ll notice how Bach’s harmonic movement governs the harpsichordist’s phrasing, and that he’s waiting for the improvisatory section to unleash power. If the fugue seems overly deliberate and lacking momentum at first, the basic pulse and interpretative design remain solidly consistent from start to finish. The Variations in the Italian Style stand out for Devine’s unified tempo relationships between movements and his discreet registrations, while the C minor Fantasia gets an incisive, superbly articulated reading. The Italian Concerto’s outer movements get bogged down in agogic stresses and don’t really come to life as they surely do in Scott Ross’s recording.
Devine is at his best in the French Overture. If Ross’s bravura sweep evokes a Baroque orchestra, Devine’s intimately scaled fingerwork and adroit contrapuntal acumen between the hands place the attractive Colin Booth double manual harpsichord centre stage. The Ouverture’s scales and ornaments particularly showcase Devine’s digital independence. He weighs the long notes to telling effect in the Courante, and employs subtle registration changes in the repeats. The Gavottes, Passepieds and Bourées dance off the page with lively rhythmic swagger and delineation. Devine’s masterly legato fingering brings uncommon linear clarity and transparency to the Sarabande, and the
Echo movement’s pronounced dynamic contrasts sound positively modern in their impact, helped by Chandos’s warm and detailed sound.
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