Home » Jazz Articles » Bailey's Bundles » Bach to Bach: Hopkinson Smith and Isang Enders

4

Bach to Bach: Hopkinson Smith and Isang Enders

The sweeping emotional reach of Johann Sebastian Bach's Suites, BWV 1007—1012) cannot be underestimated. Heard performed incandescently on two different instruments helps also. Throw in the Sonatas & Partitas for Violin, BWV 1001-1006, on the lute and you have a Bach free-for-all.

Hopkinson Smith
J.S. Bach: Sonatas & Partitas, Suites
Naive
2014

Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Violin, BWV 1001-1006 and his Suites for Cello, BWV 1001-1006 were never intended to be strictly for the violin and cello, respectively. Bach was very utilitarian in his composing, making arrangements for multiple instruments. Lutenist Hopkinson Smith takes on both composition collections in the present 4CD Naïve set.

Bach certainly wrote music specifically for lute, most notably his works for solo lute, BWV 995-1000. But Bach always saw the lute as an expressive and expansive instrument and made it a point to compose and transcribe for it. Smith brings a provincial dance vibe to these pieces, drawing out the innate rhythm that pulses in all of Bach's work. Smith's performances are tactile and earthy, yet refined, infused with the same dance spirit as are Michael Praetorius' fine Terpsichore (1612). Smith's performance of The Suite No. 1 in G major emphasizes the sensitive, sensual nature of the piece, revealing a living, breathing Bach not often heard in performance.

Isang Enders
J.S. Bach: Cello Suites
Berlin Classics
2014

Is there any remote reason for yet another recording of the Suites for Cello? In a short answer, "yes." The reason being that there is only a small select amount of music that exists in the critical emotive DNA of the human unconscious and these suites are just such music. What does the young cellist Isang Enders have to tell us that Casals, Rostropovich, and Ma have not already? Well, it is that in Bach, there can be gleaned a sweet urgency and anticipation if performed just so through the intellectual prism of a musician's thoughts,

Enders strikes a compromise between the technical Bach and those expectations that go with it and the Bach humanity. His playing is creamier and more homogenous than Casal's superb readings while taking Ma's modernist approach further. The sarabande of Suite No. 5 in C minor is a study in expended sadness while the Prelude to the Suite No. 1 in G major is an anxious trot past a cool graveyard, hoping for deliverance. Bach remains more relevant today than at any time and there can never be too many recordings, only recordings not heard.

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.