Crudely played and recorded, this simply cannot be recommended [RMo]

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Water Through Ice
Suite in G Minor, BWV 995
Suite in E Minor, BWV 996
Suite in C Minor, BWV 997
Suite in E Major, BWV 1006a
Fugue & Allegro in E-Flat Major, BWV 998
Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne
Arrangements by Vesa Lassila
Vesa Lassila (alto guitar)
rec. 2023, Ylivieska, Finland
Diversions DDV24173 [2 CDs: 102]

The subordination on the cover of the composer’s name and his works to third billing under the performer’s name and a rather gimmicky title in much larger type is the kind of presentation that always irks me as an impertinence; nor do I really see how, despite the brief explanation in the note, the rather fanciful “Water Through Ice” applies to Bach’s music – but there we are… let us move on…

This is virtually the same programme as recorded by Narcisco Yepes for DG back in 1973, only he used a conventional modern guitar. Here the music is played in the soloist’s own arrangement for the alto guitar, “an instrument created by Finnish luthier Keijo Krelin in 2009, [which] provides a rich and powerful bass register alongside a light descant and clear voice, bridging the gap between modern sounds and historic authenticity”. In addition to the lute suites, we have arrangements of two suites originally composed for solo violin, but later transcribed or arranged by him for lute-harpsichord. The notes also advise that the use of such an instrument permits “a wider range of bass lines” employing “the two full octaves as were written for the lute”.

I was taken aback on first playing, because the recording is very close and at high volume, requiring instant taming. Having just come from listening to and reviewing Eliot Fisk’s transcription of Bach’s cello suites for guitar – which thus includes the same suite opening this recital – I must say that I was struck by the crudeness of both the sound and the playing here. The former is too harsh and overbearing, and the latter features some clumsy fingerwork and hesitations, with lots of blips, clicks, squeaks and rhythmic inconsistencies, without much in the way of dynamic variation. Like Fisk, Lassila plays it in the original C-minor but he does not emulate Fisk’s sophistication or nuance and I would also much prefer to hear Yepes in A-minor despite the background hiss of my unremastered analogue recording. Regarding the additional lower sonorities afforded by the alto guitar, that might have been an advantage had the playing been more ingratiating.

I enjoy the transcriptions of the famous violin suites more but again, for me, the breaks in line, squeaks and drop-outs present insurmountable obstacles to my endorsement. Perhaps it was a mistake to move from Fisk and Yepes to this more homespun account but I cannot in all honesty recommend it. I am sorry I cannot be more positive.

Ralph Moore

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