Glenn Miller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Anybody have any comments on Ricci's version of Bach violin solo sonatas.
>I bought them and have yet to listen to them and cannot find a rating
>anywhere though I know that Gramauix and Perlman are valued highly.

Yesterday evening I listened to my my recordings of Ricci, and compared
him with other performers I have: Sergiu Luca, Monica Hugget, Gidon
Kremer, Yehudi Menuhin (the early recordings), and Sandor Vegh. Ricci's
set was the cheapest-- $10 to $15 retail-- and I'm happy to say that I
think it was well worth the money. I would describe his playing as
supremely confident, deliberate (i.e. not too fast or rushed), musically
coherent, and with one of the best tones of the bunch, which for me was
primarily what made him worth listening to, because it was so easy to
listen to him. And here's a quick rundown on the others that I heard:

Sergiu Luca - Luca's set is purely HIP, and perhaps none of the others
pay as much attention as he does to the contrapuntal texture. For someone
wanting to actively listen to the Bach and wanting to analyze him, Luca
may have the most to offer. However, from a purely aural point of view,
Luca's tone is very dry (without vibrato, for instance), and consequently
in the upper strings his tone is very sharp sometimes. So I feel that
when I play his CD I have to be a very active listener to really appreciate
him. (Bias Note- He teaches here in Houston, and I've seen him perform
numerous times, so I'm more familiar with his approach to Bach.)

Monica Huggett - Also HIP. I won't say much here, because I don't care for
her performance. She can play, and she has a nice sound, but for me she
is so rhythmically ambiguous that I thought I could feel vertigo coming
on as I listened to her. If you don't mind that one thing, then perhaps
you'll like her, because everything else is fine. But I couldn't stand
it.

Gidon Kremer - A year ago I recommended this set to a friend who promptly
bought it, and to this day I still wonder if he's forgiven me.  What's
noticeable is Kremer's attack of the chords, which sometimes sounds
violent (as well as scratchy); but I think he does this deliberately to
counter the thinness of his tone at other times.  So this kind of
compensatory playing is probably not at all for purists, but I like him,
and the chord crunches don't bother me so much.  Why do I like him?  I'm
not sure, but I think the reason is that he moves along briskly, so he
never gets boring.  He brings a lot of energy to the pieces, and I think
that no one can accuse him of "overthinking" passages.  In this regard
he is stylistically the opposite of Ricci, who never hurries, and often
takes his time to savor passages.  But remember, the Kremer set is not
for everybody.

Sandor Vegh - Unfortunately I misplaced one of the CDs, so I couldn't
make a full comparison. From an engineering point of view this set is
probably the best, as it sounded great on any stereo I played it on.
Violinistically it is pretty good. I would say that his approach matches
Ricci the best, although his playing is less personalized. But it is a
good performance.  His tone is not quite as nice as Ricci's but the
better sound engineering makes up for it. His interpretations are not
quite as interesting as some of the others, but it's consistently good
playing. However, I will note that Vegh also crunches chords at times,
and sometimes can sound a little heavy, and it doesn't always sound like
he's doing this deliberately. So, his set is not necessarily the best,
but it holds up well.

I also listened briefly to Menuhin, but gave up after a while. The playing
is fine-- just like Ricci is Ricci, Menuhin is fully Menuhin, but one
hears the young Menuhin. However, as the recording is old and I had so
many others I didn't feel the sound quality was worth overcoming in this
instance.

As for Grumiaux and Perlman, I've heard that they are good, but over
here it's the Nathan Milstein (earlier rec.) and Joseph Szigeti (again,
earlier rec.) recordings that are highly respected and valued. Milstein
has a beautiful tone, and Szigeti is considered the intellectual of
violinists, though you have to put up with comparatively poor sound
quality if you want to hear him.

Okay, hope this helps.
hector aguilar