Concert Review: Frank Peter Zimmermann and Enrico Pace play Bach Sonatas in Avery Fisher Hall

FPZ  2011.10.12

     Tonight, violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann and pianist Enrico Pace performed six Bach sonatas for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1014-1019, in Avery Fisher Hall. These sonatas were written during Bach's prolifically-instrumental Cöthen period, which also produced the six sonatas for solo violin, and the Well-Tempered Clavier. They feature an expansion of chromaticism that came out beautifully in the slow movements tonight: the duo let the harmonies melt into the ethereal (just as they should), leaving the audience hanging on this golden thread, fully spellbound, and utterly silent. There were many beautiful moments of supple phrasing - the repertoire is staple for the performers, and they have found the freedom inherent in the music.
     The acoustical issues of playing this programme in the monstrous Avery Fisher Hall, were probably best illustrated by the amusing moment at the end, when, following a standing ovation, Zimmermann announced his encore in a very baroque dynamic, and all that could be heard where I sat, towards the rear of the orchestra, was something about "sixth". He had already raised his violin to start playing, when a woman from the back called out, in characteristically speak-one's-mind New-York style, "Sorry?"
     A wave of chuckles rippled forward through the audience; when it reached him, he replied, tongue-in-cheek, having clearly not heard what she'd said, "By Bach" (It was to the merriment of those who could hear it.)
     Being guilty of the following myself, I can perhaps especially appreciate the oddity of performing Bach in the 21st-century still in the mid-20th-century tradition. History, and the great recent developments in Historical Performance Practice, tell us that these pieces were not composed for giant concert halls (even if seating tonight was only on the orchestra and 1st-tier levels), that the baroque violin was much quieter than the modern one, and that the flamboyant grand piano (strikingly setting the stage tonight), would have been a plucky harpsichord instead. If we listen to the radio, we are highly likely to have had opportunity to hear it in this version, and it takes a moment for the ear to re-adjust to what those of us old enough to know cassette tapes remember from then. Occasionally, I was bothered by Zimmermann's use of vibrato, which, though normal in the 20th-century tradition, bent the pitch sufficiently for me to wonder if Bach's keen ear for pitch wouldn't have considered it so much as to be entering alternate tunings than well-tempered, a sort of trill in ill-tempered tuning. Likewise, I wished for a gentler E-string, one that when played open, would be more reminiscent of a wispy bird than a bright-faced cell phone (on which vibrato was a welcome softening). Nonetheless, since the concert had to be in Avery Fisher Hall, due to it being part of Zimmermann's residency this year with Avery Fisher's resident New York Philharmonic (though many wished that, if 'twere to be a large hall in New York, it might have been Carnegie) - the setting highlighted why the instruments have developed the way they have: to project. I also don't think that Bach would have minded a change in instrument to suit the venue, especially considering the programme notes' explication that the sonatas' titles' in the first source leave some wiggle room in instrumentation: "Six sonatas for obbligato harpsichord and solo violin, with the bass accompanied by a viola da gamba if you like". The acoustics were further enhanced by a very visually-appealing wooden screen behind the performers, though unfortunately Pace benefitted from its amplifying resonance more than Zimmermann, who of course stood further from it.
     As those gorgeously mesmerizing moments of phrasing showed, there is certainly value in this way as well. And being heard is a good thing too, though maybe not as funny as not being heard. $35 can be a prohibitive ticket price to musicians and students, and, considering that I didn't hear the first half, but rather was very fortunate to find a kind person with a complimentary ticket and "stub in" at intermission and hear the second half, I'm quite sure indeed that I preferred hearing it!