Tabea Zimmermann Plays Bach & Kurtag: Solo II

Albumbeschreibung

Violist Tabea Zimmermann's sequel to her 2009 Solo album, featuring a pair of Bach solo cello suites transcribed for viola, has taken more than a decade to arrive, but a deliberate approach seems to have paid off. This 2020 release is a delight, showing Zimmermann's trademark strengths. She uses an old bow with a modern viola, an unusual combination that Zimmermann deploys in producing precise agility married to a resonant sound. As before, the transcription from cello to viola is not much of an issue; there's some question as to exactly what the instrument Bach had in mind sounded like, and in any event, transcription was part and parcel of Bach's musical universe. The Bach performances exemplify Zimmermann's uncanny ability to be sensitive to hints of implied polyphony while still keeping a strong dance pulse going, and if anything, they're even a bit more impressive in this regard than those on the earlier album. There are differences as well. Instead of Reger, Zimmermann chooses excerpts from the György Kurtág's Signs, Games & Messages, a large unfinished collection of short works composed with significance for various musicians. These include Zimmermann herself; "Eine Blume für Tabea" ("A Flower for Tabea") was written as a memorial for the violist's deceased husband. Kurtág makes an ideal pairing for the Bach suites, which were intimate, allusive works themselves. The sound on this release, from Berlin's Jesus-Christus-Kirche, doesn't quite catch the intimate quality; Kim Kashkashian's recordings of the Bach works from the American Institute of Arts and letters are preferable in this regard, but there are still two more Bach cello suites which Zimmermann has yet to approach, and one awaits a third volume in the set when she is good and ready.
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