Album

This is a fascinating historical document for collectors and for admirers of violinist Adolf Busch—a category that includes many people who don't even know that they fall into it (as one of the founders of the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, Busch exerted a tremendous influence on the growth of chamber orchestras in America). Surprisingly, it may also prove a resource for players and adherents of the historical-performance movement. The recordings were made mostly between 1929 and 1933, shortly after Busch, clearly identifying the prevailing winds, left his native Germany. (One selection, the Violin Sonata in E major, BWV 1016, comes from a set of more widely available Busch concerts given in Washington, D.C., in 1943.) This is the Romantics' Bach, certainly. Nothing in Busch's performances is remotely close to idiomatic—nor should anyone expect them to be, given the date. Ignore the designations in the tracklist of forces that include a harpsichord; the continuo part in all the ensemble works is realized by Busch's associate Rudolf Serkin on a piano. And here's where things start to get interesting. Serkin made quite an intellectual leap in his accompaniments here: he did not just keep the piano closed and quiet, but adopted a crisp yet clipped articulation that little resembed the conventional ways of playing Mozart and Beethoven chamber music with piano. He gets the balance between soloist and continuo right, and he puts the emphasis on Busch's playing. Busch, for his part, plays with a gusto that contemporary players would do well to emulate. The highlight is perhaps the opening Partita No. 2 in D minor for violin solo, BWV 1004, with its giant chaconne at the end. Busch's performance of the chaconne is a real thrill ride, hugely expressive, but never losing sight of the basic architecture of the material and of the fact that he was playing music that depended on solid blocks. The Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major, BWV 1042, in an undated recording made with the violinist's own Busch Chamber Players along with Serkin's piano lightly laying down a background (CD 1, tracks 10-12), is another highlight: the size and energy of the orchestra, years before people really figured out how to play this music, are ideal. The individual sonata movements with Serkin on disc 2, verging into the territory of Kreisleriana (listening to recordings like these, one begins to understand how Kreisler could get away with his famous Baroque hoaxes of the 1930s), are a little less successful, but anyone performing Baroque music today will find something beneficial in Busch's full-blooded approach. A nice job all around from Italy's energetic band of discographical researchers.

© James Manheim, Rovi

CD 1 of 2
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Partita No.2 for Solo Violin in D-, BWV1004 Work Recorded 1929 23:26 Adolf Busch Violin
1	1.Allemande	2:38			$0.99
2	2.Courante	1:29			$0.99
3	3.Sarabande	3:45			$0.99
4	4.Gigue	1:57			$0.99
5	5.Chaconne	13:37			$2.49
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Sonata No.3 for Solo Violin in C, BWV1005 Work 21:58 Adolf Busch Violin
6	1.Adagio	5:07			$0.99
7	2.Fuga: Alla breve	9:36			$1.49
8	3.Largo	3:55			$0.99
9	4.Allegro assai	3:20			$0.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Violin Concerto in E, BWV1042 Work 18:16 Busch Chamber Players Ensemble, Adolf Busch Violin
10	1.Allegro	7:57			$1.49
11	2.Adagio	7:36			$1.49
12	3.Allegro assai	2:43			$0.99
CD 2 of 2
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Violin Sonata in G, BWV1021 Work Recorded 1929 8:16 Adolf Busch Violin
1	1.Adagio	2:36			$0.99
2	2.Vivace	0:55			$0.99
3	3.Adagio	3:21			$0.99
4	4.Presto	1:24			$0.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Violin Sonata No.4 in C-, BWV1017 Work Recorded 1933 Rudolf Serkin Piano, Adolf Busch Violin
5	1.Siciliano: Largo	3:01			$0.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Violin Sonata No.3 in E, BWV1016 Work Recorded 1933 6:54 Adolf Busch Violin
6	2.Allegro	3:05			$0.99
7	4.Allegro	3:49			$0.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Partita No.2 for Solo Violin in D-, BWV1004 Work Recorded 1928 Adolf Busch Violin
8	3.Sarabande	3:49			$0.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Violin Sonata No.3 in E, BWV1016 Work Recorded 1943 17:20 Rudolf Serkin Piano, Adolf Busch Violin
9	1.Adagio	5:02			$0.99
10	2.Allegro	2:55			$0.99
11	3.Adagio ma non tanto	5:55			$0.99
12	4.Allegro	3:28			$0.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Sonata No.1 for Solo Violin in G-, BWV1001 Work Recorded 1934 11:56 Adolf Busch Violin
13	2.Fugue: Allegro	5:00			$0.99
14	3.Siciliano	4:42			$0.99
15	4.Presto	2:14			$0.99