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Bach: Sonates Bwv 1027-1029, Chorals & Trios / Les Basses Reunies

Release Date: 04/14/2009
Label: Alpha Productions Catalog #: 139 Spars Code: n/a
Composer:  Johann Sebastian Bach ,  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Performer:  Richard Myron ,  Bruno Cocset ,  Bertrand Cuiller Conductor:  Bruno Cocset Orchestra/Ensemble:  Les Basses Réunies Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo



BACH Viola da gamba Sonatas: BWV 1027–1029. Chorale Preludes: BWV 659; BWV 711; BWV 649; BWV 645. Trio Sonata for Organ in e, BWV 528. Trio for Organ in d, BWV 583 • Bruno Cocset (vdg); Bertrand Cuiller (org, hpd); Richard Myron (db) (period instruments) • ALPHA 139 (58:26)


Most music-lovers, I’m sure, Read more can name a piece of music inspired by a painting or paintings— Pictures at an Exhibition , of course, but also Botticelli Pictures, Isle of the Dead, Nobilissima visione, Mathis der Maler, Goyescas, Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee , and so on. But how about a recording inspired by a painting of an instrument that may—or may not—have existed only in the imagination of the artist? This is that recording, and the instrument is a five-string “alto,” or viola bastarda , depicted in a painting by Bartolomeo Bettera (1639–1688). The viola bastarda is a hybrid, a transitional instrument between the viol family and the violin family. Bruno Cocset was so taken by the image that he had a reproduction of the instrument made. Named the Bettera viola, it is recorded here for the first time.


One might be tempted to conclude that this disc is about the instrument, but in fact it is ultimately about the music. The program consists of a threesome of musical triptychs, with each of Bach’s three viola da gamba sonatas preceded by a chorale prelude and followed by a trio-sonata movement or, once, by a fourth chorale prelude. Curiously, Cocset does not play the Bettera viola in any of the viola da gamba sonatas; he plays BWV 1027 and 1028 with a tenor violon alla bastarda and BWV 1029 with the grande basse. The Bettera viola can be heard in the other six chorales and movements. Cocset’s infatuation was not in vain—the sound of his Bettera viola is rich and warm. How much of that quality is due to the instrument and how much to the player is subject to conjecture; the gamba sonatas fall just as graciously on the ear. In the end, it is Cocset’s splendidly musical performances that carry the day. Recommended.


FANFARE: George Chien
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