On Bach and Berlioz

At a concert of solo violin music by Bach a year or so ago in a small concert hall, I was amazed at the range of dynamics produced by the solo violin of Alina Ibragimova, whose sound went from a barely audible pianissimo to a very loud fortissimo. If you are going to listen to a solo violin for 90 minutes, such a range of colour is pretty well obligatory. I thought of this yesterday when listening to Gregory Fulkerson playing unaccompanied Bach. Stylistically and technically the performances were impeccable, and highly enjoyable. But, finally, the works began to pall a little since Fulkerson, as recorded here in a somewhat reverberant acoustic, came over as playing with a fairly limited dynamic range.

I switched to Simone Kermes singing coloratura arias from (mainly) little-known composers of the early 18th century. Thoroughly enjoyable for the music, and for the singing. They knew how to write good tunes in those days and to keep you listening for a whole hour!

Earlier, I had once again abandoned poor old Berlioz's Harold in Italy, a work I have tried hard to enjoy for around half a century now, but still with little success. Not due to the executants, I think, since I have Menuhin or Tabea Zimmermann both conducted by Colin Davis, or William Primrose conducted by Beecham. As a proud owner of two excellent violas on which I scrape away from time to time, I am heavily predisposed to like the viola. But there is something about Berlioz's Harold that gets in my teeth and I very rarely manage to get through listening to all the movements. Perhaps it is just that the plaintive idée fixe theme comes around too often for me, or that I am uncomfortable trying to grasp a work that is neither a symphony, nor a concerto.