Donald Satz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Although I don't want to burst any optimism concerning the Delme's
>recording on Hyperion, I need to point out that, up to this point, I am
>not as enamored with the other movements as I am with the Unfinished Fugue.
>However, all my listening has been while driving, and that's not the 100%
>concentration level needed.  Excuses, excuses - I'm loaded with them.

Having listened to the Delme Qt.'s recording I can say that, for me, it
has a fatal flaw: it is transposed from D-minor to G-minor so that it can
be played by a regular string quartet.  This changes the sound palette of
the work and the higher key transposition gives the work (to my ears anyway)
an air of levity that I don't want in this work.  In this sense, the
Juilliard Qt.  did much better by comissioning a custom-made viola to play
in the D-min.  key and also by having the second violin play viola in
certain parts, so that the whole work is played as Bach wrote it, without
need for transposition.

One good thing to be said about the Delme recording is that it includes
Tovey's completion of the unfinished fugue, as well as the unfinished
version, on separate tracks.

Another great recording that was recently released is Erich Bergel's with
the Cluj Philharmonic (from a live concert in Budapest in 1991).  This uses
Bergel's own orchestration and completion of the last fugue, which I found
to be a tour de force.  It's on the Budapest Music Club label.  Right up
there with Ristenpart for an orchestral version of 'KdF'.

Ramon Khalona