Recordings of the Partitas were vetted last year on this list if anyone
cares to look them up.  As I recall, last year some significant contributor
raved about the Milstein recordings, and 16 year old Hilary Hahn's were not
considered among the finest (personally I treasure them, but then again I'm
in love with her).  But I thought I'd quote from my favorite pundit, Jim
Svejda,

   "More than any other important violinist since Fritz Kreisler, the
   late Arthur Grumiaux created the impression of a very great musician
   who only happened to play the violin.  Although far more technically
   reliable than Kreisler ...  Grumiaux was completely indifferent to
   virtuosity for its own sake.  His mission in life was to illuminate
   great music rather than dazzle an audience.

   Recorded in the early 1960's, Grumiaux's versions of the solo Partitas
   and Sonatas are very dazzling from both a musical and technical point
   of view.  No other recordings reveal the music's structural bones
   quite so clearly or do it with such an easy, natural grace.

   Except for those of Mark Kaplan.  If this extraordinary musician
   dressed as preposterously as Nigel Kennedy or indulged in the stage
   antics of Joshua Bell or Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, then he would
   probably be far better known, since he plays circles around all of
   them.  His recordings of the Sonatas and Partitas (Mitch Miller Music
   14630) are the most musical since Grumiaux's and are marginally better
   played."

On a personal note, I recently heard Nogotula Ngwenyama play the E-minor
partita on her chosen instrument, the viola.  I thought her overall
performance was quite fine, although I confess it was the first time I had
heard an entire recital performed on viola.  However, clearly she struggled
a bit with the partita.  Since she played other works (e.g.  by Kreisler)
that were seemingly more technically challenging- or at least more
dazzling- with consummate mastery, it gave me some appreciation for how
difficult these pioneering works by Bach must be.

Larry Sherwood
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