Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
    The English Suites, BWV 806-811

Disc 1:
Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807
Suite No. 4 in F major, BWV 809
Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811
Disc 2:
Suite No. 1 in A major, BWV 806
Suite No. 3 in G minor, BWV 808
Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 810

Christophe Rousset, harpsichord
Recorded 2003
Ambroisie AMB 9942 [2cds - 126:14]

Comparison Versions: Curtis/Teldec, Gilbert/Harmonia Mundi

If want to know what this new Rousset/Bach set sounds like, just
get yourself to the nearest airport hangar and turn on the juice.
You will find the primary voices blurred and inner voices joined at the
hip.  Nuance will be hard to discern, while detailed architecture will
be thoroughly hidden.  You don't want to listen to music in an airport
hangar?  Neither do I, but recording engineers increasingly desire our
attendance.  This is a trend in recorded sound that I can't understand
and find impossible to appreciate.

Let me state for the record that Chirstophe Rousset is a top-flight
harpsichordist, but no performing artist can overcome the 'airport hangar
effect'.  For comparison, I used the exceptional versions of the English
Suites from Kenneth Gilbert and Alan Curtis.  All of a sudden, one notices
the music's details and compelling musical lines; both versions are from
an era where the hangar effect had no currency.  Whatever Gilbert and
Curtis are conveying strikes the listener incisively, but it is hard to
figure out just what Rousset is trying to convey.

As for the style used by Rousset, I'd call it smooth contours and maximum
exuberance.  Also, these smooth contours mesh poorly with airport hangars,
resulting in aural mush.  I started out with the 1st Suite in A major.
Although I have read that Rousset's interpretations lack feeling, I found
his Sarabande quite poignant.  That's likely because the Sarabande isn't
as busy as the other movements in the Suite.  I won't deny that Rousset's
fast as lightning Bourree I and II and the Gigue have an exciting element
to them, but you still can't discriminate among the various voices.
Nothing is crisp, everything is muddled.

I could go on and offer my perceptions of Rousset's interpretations of
the five other Suites, but there really isn't any point and I don't want
to be overly repetitive.  Some discs are doomed before they ever get off
the ground, and the Rousset should have been deposited for posterity at
the airport.

Don's Conclusions: To those who enjoy airport hangar sound, Rousset's
set might be a godsend.  For everyone else, it's one to avoid at all
costs.  Speaking of cost, I put out a significant amount of money to
acquire this set and feel cheated out of hearing one of our best early
music artists perform his magic.  If there isn't a law forbidding such
horrendous sound, someone should start lobbying for one.  Any takers?
An appropriate sentence would be 20 to life being stuck in an airport
hangar listening to this pathetic sounding Ambroisie set.

Don Satz
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