‘So here are 3 degrees of reimagination for your consideration. My own
minimalist effort, Bach's mild refashioning of BWV1006 with a bass line
and some ornaments, and then the wonderful transmutation that is BWV995.
I hope they all give pleasure!'
Indeed they do. Guitarist and lutenist extraordinaire, continuo player
to the stars Bill Carter, who in typically cheerful mood ends his
entertaining and informative booklet-note with the above, has finally
ventured forth into the miniature universe that is J.S. Bach's music for solo lute (after Bach's own works for solo violin or cello), following
years exploring more far-flung regions such as the Baroque guitar music
of Francesco Corbetta and Santiago de Murcia. It has been worth the
wait.
Carter was a student of Nigel North, whose complete recordings of Bach's
solo violin and cello music transcribed for lute is one of the jewels
in Linn Records' crown. He brings his former teacher's devotion to
seeing Bach's music as a language in which one must strive to be fluent
with an ear for the colouristic possibilities of the lute born of years
performing with orchestras and chamber ensembles.
Thus there is the soloist's suppleness and flexibility of phrase; but
there is also the obvious enjoyment of pure sonority and tints and
shades of tone. These qualities are most evident in the freer preludes
of the G minor Sonata and Suite; but there is a lovely use of notes
inégales in the Siciliana and the Courante of both suites as well, while
other dance movements benefit from Carter's deceptively subtle,
distinctive imagination.
Tempos are, when compared with a player such as Hopkinson Smith's in the
same works, somewhat on the leisurely side. That's because Carter isn't
in a hurry to get anywhere. He arrived a long time ago. (William Yeoman / Gramophone)
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