New recordings from a pioneering Russian classical guitarist: works for lute by Bach, plus Arcady Ivannikov’s own transcriptions of the D minor Partita and A minor Sonata for solo violin.
Unlike the suites for unaccompanied cello or the sonatas and partitas for solo violin, Bach’s works for solo lute do not seem to have been conceived as a group. They include a variety of compositions written in different styles and span a fairly long period of his creative life; the E minor Suite BWV996 dates from Bach’s time in Weimar, while the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro BWV998 is believed to have been composed during the last years of his life. Although some pieces are more idiomatic than others, they all make taxing demands on the performer.
There is no evidence that Bach actually played the lute himself, but he was clearly interested in the sound of the instrument. This is further illustrated by his subtle use of it in the St John Passion and the Trauerode BWV 198. Of the four suites which appear to have been written specifically with the lute in mind, Arcady Ivannikov presents the E minor BWV996 and the C minor BWV997 (transposed here to A minor). BWV997 is probably a late work of Bach’s and in the richness and complexity of its full five-movement form (especially the fugue) notably reminiscent of the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, which makes Ivannikov’s coupling so inspired (but unusual).
As a transcriber and performer, Ivannikov has taken a path of minimal intervention, attempting only to make small editorial adjustments to ease the fit of the music from the four-string violin to the six-string guitar. Culminating in the sublime Chaconne which was probably composed as a tombeau to mark the sudden passing of his first wife Maria Barbara, the D minor Partita is Bach’s most profound work for solo instrument besides the piano, and a fitting climax to this collection from one of Russia’s master guitarists.
