H. Szeryng Bach Partita 2 Ciaccona part 1

[srinitaaigaura]

This is COLOR ! The sound balance is perfect. In Szeryng I can hear the sound of the lower strings just as cleanly as the upper ones in all those arpeggios. Its opened a new dimension for me to see the complex polyphonic character of Bach's music . These recordings are also of excellent quality.

[srinitaaigaura]

Is this a violin or organ? Man he really plays in typical Baroque style!

[PaperGrape]

@srinitaaigaura YES! And yet somehow, Szeryng captures all the sensitivity and color a person can hope for!

[Khu827]

@violatione You're definitely dealing with a matter of preference. Kremer is a brilliant violinist with a renowned Bach, but Szeryng was as well. Who are we to judge the masters? I feel Szeryng had a remarkable intellectual depth with the Chaconne that is difficult to match. I am also a fan of Kremer, but I cannot say Kremer's Bach blows Szeryng's out of the water. It simply is something that is impossible to judge.

[PaperGrape]

and as far as kremer, he is maybe the only recording, in my opinion, that can and probably ever will be able to compare to this.

[PaperGrape]

lol at violatione... funny conclusions. listened to mullovas... (in my opinion), NOT BETTER. not with borderline spicatto and too little bow to make the chords speak, even on a fine violin. uh.. in my opinion, lol. i sense none of the line of thought that szeryng has.

[doremi61]

Secondo me questa è la più bella Ciaccona mai eseguita, con tutto il rispetto degli altri mostri sacri che ci sono cimentati a suonarla! Come eseguiva Bach Szeryng corrispone esattamente al mio modo di sentire la musica di Bach, lo adoro!

Giulio Menichelli

[aishas]

what recording is this? (like which cd...date, etc.)

[Chromometron]

i feel that... something is lacking... from each different chaconne... and that perhaps only i... can do it the way... that is right for me... yet... there is no chance... i can beat... this.

the pain!

[OlafAndvarafors]

circa! molto tempo alla ricerca di questa performance. grazie

[ViolinistAtHeart]

Szeryng's JS Bach interpretations are so outstanding with added touch of warmth and clearly serve as a benchmark for others.

[fazetti]

Grumiaux seems underrepresented. His version of the chaconne is outstanding and I enjoy his consistency in the arpeggio areas: while most violinists change every 8 bars to a different bowing, Grumiaux plays the same bowing throughout. But I own bach played by Milstein, Szeryng, Grumiaux, and Heifetz as well and they each have a distinct feel and each interpretation is equally as great as the other. If only one of them were still alive today...

[paolocongia]

Musica stupenda e splendida interpretazione!

[paulostroff99]

Brilliant! I simply love it!  Bravo!

[Toasty25000]

I like Perlman's performance a little better

[giulianobevisangue]

Yes, Perlman has force and personality. But if I want a discerning, elegant and intelectually satisfying interpretation, Szeryng is my bet. I really has to do with the personality of the listener being in tune with that of the performer. I am an analytical perfectionist, so I tend to like interpretations that are "calculated", highly polished and I tend to dislike musicians who are unruly and capricious. If I had a more colorful personality, perhaps Perlman would've been higher in my charts.

[pbpeex]

@Toasty25000

I prefer this one....

but perlman is amazing too.... I'm not in the position to criticize a violin master.

[semisavage]

This is not a "song". If you had even half a brain you would have known that, at least. And this is not 'classical'; its baroque.

[indesertum]

nobody gives a crap. it's good music. and classical music is a broad term encompassing music based in a few periods including the classical period

[CornDoctor]

if you want to call it a song you can call it a song. just pretend the violin is singing.

[semisavage]

Please review my response to myself. Thanks!

[semisavage]

Just in case anyone gets the wrong impression, the person/jackass many of us were responding to has been removed. The responses under mine are not directed at me.

This is a "ciaconna" which is a variation of the passacaglia, or one should say the passacaglia is a variation of the 'chaconne' as the chaconne is rooted in a 'major' key while the passacaglia the minor. In any case it is NOT a 'song', which has distinct structural forms of its own.

[CornDoctor]

regardless you can still call it a song. most people will know what you are talking about dont worry

[howdilydoodily]

semisavage-

No, major vs. minor tonality has nothing to do with the difference between a chaconne and a passacaglia. It is rooted in their traditions of their use of ground base, although the difference is quite subtle.

The rhythmic traditions of both are also a tad different, with emphasis on different beats at times a key difference. (cont'd)

[howdilydoodily]

(cont'd)

semisavage-

Also, you might want to re-think the semantics of when a person refers to a piece as a song. I come from the school that all musical works should be viewed as a "song," because that is the root of all music--the expression of the human voice. A violin sings the Chaconne as much as a singer sings Die Winterreise--and a good violinist will have greater success when he/she thinks of the piece as a song, inserting imaginary words/syllables in each note.

[CornDoctor]

i agree. sure it does not literally have words but to call it a song is nothing demeaning or indecorous

[jogoma91]

why are you here? you are shit too :)

[DHcello]

this is CBS first bach record of Mr.Szeryng!

that beautiful!

[tdelig]

Great performance. Listen to Kremer too, though. He might be too free but he had the biggest impact on me. This piece is supposed to break your heart, this way or another and it needs streanth too. It is a piece for men, with respect to wemen's performances.

[dxhaloxc]

sustained.

beautiful.

[a1rb0rne101]

I like this recording, it gives an 'earthy' feeling to the music, not too romantic, not too boroque, especially the arpeggios, ohhh i love this pice sooo much. I listen to it like 2 times a day... ;)

[sovietviolin]

The benchmark performance. Some strive for historically informed performance and others for more "romantic" connotations in the score, but Szeryng has defined with simplicity what this music means.

[RadioGooGoo]

So beautiful, his sound is amazing! <3

[jerrypicker]

My favorite recording of the Chaconne! This is just way, way out there. Bach wrote religious music in which he attempted to speak to God. Here, God seems to be singing back...and in a dance tune, no less.

[tonymyself]

What happened to violin players??? There were some big ones who could play Bach less than 50 years ago... Milstein, Menuhin to a lesser extent, and Szeryng, of course! All i hear now has no heart, is just show off.

I love this version from the bottom of my heart, I sort of hope nobody will surpass it, but if someone can, i don't know who it will be.

[alayeldin]

the ciaconna is very different from the rest of the movements of the 6 sonatas & partitas or anything that bach has ever composed to the degree that i sometimes think that it wasn't written by bach,has anyone thought of this possibility before?

[a1rb0rne101]

yes, i have when i first heard it, which was a recording by heifetz, it did not sound like bach at all, and other people agreed with me. I have another question why on earth would they split it into two parts!!!! thats insane its not split on the score, i have it. can somone explain that to me?

[laug66]

airborne101 - yt allows max 10 mins per file.  btw I think Sveryng is way better than Heifetz - always was.

[pbpeex]

so true!

[mil17717]

youtube has a 10 min limit for most users.

[pbpeex]

i think heifetz i more mechanical ...

i agree with laug66.... szering is way better than heifetz, in my opinion of course, heifetz is so perfect, but not lacks in emotion

[crazy77town]

not mechanical, we cant really talk about such a big artist like that...it is just that he couldnt really understand about baroque i think!!

he was a virtuoso with anything that this word may imply!!! he was all about romance,drama and performance...

baroque is really hard to define, but it is something different than this...hard to find...

szeryng, the best baroque interpreter

[pbpeex]

I like very much hilary hahn's perfomance of this. have you listen to it ?

of course, in my opinion, not comparable to szerying...

[ipiuanimato]

Thanks giulianobevisangue for posting these Bach pieces by Szeryng. I knew little about classical music until my daughter started playing the violin. When I first heard Chaconne played by a music conservatory student a few years ago, I didn't like it much and dreaded the day my daughter might need to learn it. But when my daughter really started on it, I found it very enchanting, esp. this rendition by Szeryng. I keep coming back to listen to it, again and again, perhaps 100 times already!

[alessiobenvenuti]

This Ciaccona is really amazing. I was very lucky at 10 yrs old, i studied Bach First sonata and Ciaccona with Szering and was one of the most important experiences in my entire life. Great violinist and man. This is the only way to play Bach, not immature us Vengerov of Hahn, and with the ugly sound of Kremer!!!I listen another fantastic Ciaccona live from Uto Ughi, you can still hear the final D in the hall today after three years!

[nightripper215]

fuck this version. shlomo mintz is where it's at. become enlightened, listen to his playing of this and it will blow your mind. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than this hack.

[munkaaaa]

immature brat

[xiaoxiwan]

I happened to have Mintz's recording of the 1001-1006 and I immediately discarded it after I heard Szeryng's.

[RadioGooGoo]

you're a dumbass. nobody cares about your opinion, keep it to your pathetic self.

:)

[RadioGooGoo]

btw, my comment was being directed to nightripper215

[AytidaRed]

can't get enough bach - szeryng would do bach proud.

[danadatz]

Oh, yeah... it`s TRUE ciaccona .I heard it at last. Thank you.

[pipogalli]

Fantastisch! Jetzt weiß ich auch, woher Hilary Hahn ihre Inspiration für die Doppelgriffpassagen hat, bei denen die Bass- oder Tenorstimme die Hauptstimme ist :)

Ich habe noch nie eine so klare Interpretation gehört. Mit Hahn und Milstein mein Favorit.

[jbdoggy]

Im a bach fanatic. But chaconne i hv to admit is an acquired taste. Didnt particularly like it when i 1st heard it henryk's bach violin partitas cd set. Then came Solcher's 12 string guitar version & i disliked it even more. However after listening to it again aft a long while on a 6 string guitar I got hooked & addicted & cant get enough of it. Now Ive also come to love the violin version as well.

[lachnessmonster1]

i completely agree. once you really get to know the chaconne it's incredible.

[Draziw777]

He is great. I like Heifetz, Milstein and Perlman too.

[misha527]

nobody plays bach better than szeryng. he is the best

[violatione]

@misha527 Actually lots of people play bach better than Szeryng. I dare you to listen to Victoria Mullova play this mvt and tell me it not better.

[giulianobevisangue]

@violatione Be careful about such bold statements. You will likely get mauled for your preferences. It is good to generally avoid absolute judgments or to make it sound like your opinion is the most important in the world. It is not. So please be more polite when saying that you prefer Mullova's rendition to Szeryng's.

[violatione]

@giulianobevisangue My friend, my statement was not meant to hurt your feelings. I'm merely stating a fact. Violinists today are a lot better than they used to be. So much more is required of a world class virtuoso today than say, 50 years ago. Gidon Kremer's chaccone is also vastly superior to this one. It's not about preference really, the only people who like the old recordings of this piece are the people who don't go to concerts, and don't have large music collections.

[giulianobevisangue]

@violatione Yes, I understand your point. But others might not see that and feel insulted because you have downplayed their idol (Szeryng). I was comenting not on your opinion itself, but on the way you said it. You have to be a bit more diplomatic to avoid hurting the felings of others who idolise Szeryng, that's all.

[violatione]

@giulianobevisangue Why should I care if a group of anonymous net fans feel insulted by what I say? People need to hear the truth, and the truth is best delivered with bluntness. If you spend your life worrying about the feelings of others, you waste lots of time and the greater good is not served.

[giulianobevisangue]

@violatione Then you have understood nothing about what music is, my friend. It doesn't hurt to be polite, you know. Being a loud mouth will only irritate people and make you the target of sarcasm. Or you might encounter somebody who will ask you to sustain your opinion with solid arguments (besides "I think that..."). With your current attitude you are not coming out as a prophet of truth, but rather as an arrogant neanderthal.

[violatione]

@giulianobevisangue Actually being polite takes extra time. You may call me an arrogant neanderthal but fact of the matter is I'm right. One plus one equals two. It matters not how it is said.

[giulianobevisangue]

@violatione This is not science or a judicial court. This is music, art, where no absolutes reign except your own tastes, in your own privacy. Unless you can express your opinion with arguments and politeness, then I don't want to hear about it. If you think that you are absolutely right, then there is something seriously wrong with you. Being absolutely sure that you hold the truth is a sign of either lack of education or mental illness.

[akagi2002]

@violatione For those who don't get the real spirit of Bach's music,have no idea of it's structure and never think about the being of music itself,they can go to so many concerts,having even larger music collections and doing much more comparisons,they'll always aprreciate the wrong ones.Mullova superior then Szeryng?The "violinists" today better then the old masters?This is a joke!Today I only hear the "stars" who are intepreting the works superficially by their own imaginations,

[akagi2002]

@violatione without any depth from analysis at the work itself.Where is the respecting to the composers?Where is the respecting to music and art itself?Actually we are living in a poor age and I know what I am saying."One plus one equals two",simply!

[munyecdiabolic]

@violatione dear friend, Victoria Mullova is a very good player in bach, is possible at same level than Szering. Other thing is actually, that are lots of people play bach better than Szering,yes , technically, but not musically, actually lots of people plays bach like menuhin, like romantic wagnerian interpretation and this is not bach, is a romantic and deformed adaptation of bach

[violatione]

@munyecdiabolic If you actually listened to her video of the chaccone I don't think you'd say that she is on the same level as Szeryng. Also Kremer's bach is miles above this one. This is not an insult to Szeryng, The performers of today had a lot more recordings and literature to draw upon when recording this. Szeryng was one of the first people to record it so I doff my hat to him.

[PaperGrape]

This is amazing...

[patrickforsyth]

Thank you so much for posting this. What an incredible performance.

[jabsomdoc]

yes, nobody does bach better than szeryng. ive heard stories of him getting carried away in masterclasses by just deciding to play the whole thing for everyone by memory.

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

lol

[jbdoggy]

Henryk is widely regarded as THE best when it comes to Bach. His Bach partitas CD was rated 5*s & a rose mark in the penguin CD book. Rose marks are reserved only for the most outstanding CD recordings.

[hinatachansama]

an diesem stück sieht man alles..

nie wieder wurde etwas ähnliches komponiert