Leonidas Kavakos Bach Violin Concertos

• Performers: Leonidas Kavakos, violin; Apollon Ensemble
• Recording: Megaron Concert Hall, Athens; September 2023
• Producer and Engineer: Jonas Niederstadt
• Label: Sony Classical

Aesthetic-Philosophical Position

The number of recordings of Bach’s violin concertos—even those not left to us as violin concertos—numbers high, although nothing compared to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The number of recordings of Bach concertos outside the historically-informed performance practice (HIPP) world are few, and this new recording by Kavakos and the Apollon Ensemble sits neatly in a unique camp: a semi-historical approach using modern instruments.

What was clear to me as I listened to this new album and read the liner notes was that Kavakos deeply loves Bach’s music and wanted to record this music. One of the first recordings of Bach’s violin concertos performed one-per-part in my memory was the recording by Monica Huggett with her ensemble Sonnerie which I remember being a new recording following a new trend—to play with smaller forces.

There are some issues with this approach—Kavakos remarks that the balance and dynamics are better with a small orchestra—and some historical evidence exists that a small (1 per part) ensemble is historically accurate. There’s other evidence (most notably for me, paintings of performances at the Zimmerman coffee house) that suggest a larger orchestra at their mid-day concerts with multiple string players pictured at each desk.

There’s no big loss for me in scaling back here sonically in terms of Bach’s concertos. I think Kavakos is right, small forces can be a boon to the music, at least when those players aren’t satisfied sitting in the shadows and actually will play-out.

Kavakos’ essay goes to length to legitimize his performance decisions and approach. He tried period bows, period instruments, listened to a lot of Sigiswald Kuijken. Those experiments, evidently, were enough to inspire him. He overcame the historical boundaries of performance practice by learning how to re-create the historic sound to his more modern bow and what I assume are steel strings. For good measure, a harpsichord is present (although at times quite difficult to hear) to support its function in the basso continuo. The approach thus far helps us define what for these players HIPP is:

• the way to bow and address the strings;
• the playing forces;
• the use of a historical keyboard instrument that provides chordal support for the bass line;
• the non-use of continuous left-hand vibrato;
• the adopt a so-called baroque pitch, A=415.

Some elements that perhaps didn’t make the list include:

• phrasing;
• instruments imitating the voice;
• instrumental sound and timbre;
• ornamentation and improvisation.

For the last one, there are some embellishments I quite enjoyed in the opening concerto, a reconstruction, BWV 1052. Kavakos, like many a performer, are handed what I believe is an invitation in the first movement (and third) for a cadenza, but push the offer aside. But with even HIPP ensembles not taking the bait, I can’t necessarily fault him for it. He does make in the section, at least, us to think that maybe he is contemplating something and takes his time before bowing back into the ritornello at full speed.

In terms of phrasing, I always remember that the star role of any single instrument for baroque musicians was to write music in imitation of the human voice. There’s a very technical, consistent way that Kavakos phrases much of the faster movements. Again, the opening concerto seems to be the place where he might feel more free to try a bit of phrasing support to mimic a singer’s ability to breathe and group notes, but these come at the most obvious spots where it’s natural to slow down and pause.

Listen to the opening of the A minor concerto, BWV 1041. He well-chooses the opening tempo. There are some moments where I appropriately feel the ensemble playing with rubato in the solo section. But it’s that consistency of articulation and dynamic volume that for me sounds somehow a little mechanical. Instead, I think there was a missed opportunity to shape the phrases a bit more interestingly. Likewise, the voice of the violin (as much as one can vary the timbre of one’s instrument) is one dimensional.

The word associated with HIPP that got a lot of people concerned was authenticity. “Yes, Pablo Casals, you’re playing Bach’s cello suites, but with my cello that doesn’t use an end-pin? My Bach is authentic Bach!” And perhaps that’s what’s bothering me with the approach on this album, which isn’t unique to Kavakos, so I don’t want to call him out as the poster child for this thinking, but an HIPP approach without the instruments, without the background into the aesthetic of the period? It’s not full-on HIPP. It’s lacking an element which I find is important, it’s missing the authenticity of the historical sound.

Kavakos has a great violin sound, but I kept thinking, especially on his E string? This isn’t a baroque violin. Some of you may prefer this sound to the softer, rustic sound of a baroque instrument. It is a beautiful sound. It is just different.

The parallel might be a movie about an historical figure that accounts for how that character ate, how she talked, using the native language and diction, but for some reason adopts modern costumes over historical ones. One may think in the context of the movie, why didn’t you go all the way?

What I am attempting to point out is that movie may lack some authenticity but the lack of historical authenticity we know cannot be absolute. The movie is a movie, it’s not going back in time. The same applies here: this is an HIPP-informed performance but stops short of joining other efforts that use historical instruments or copies. I think there are additional nuances as well, but the instruments are the easiest to quibble about. I had similar issues with the harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani’s choice of instrument that amplifies its sound with a carbon fiber soundboard. Having a louder harpsichord, while not historically exact, does provide the modern player some benefits.

And that’s where we are: closer in aesthetic to former HIPP-pioneer Reinhard Goebel. His recordings of Baroque music (as director) with the Berlin Baroque Soloists use modern instruments (and pitch) but with so many more elements that are rooted in period performance. This album is in the same camp, I feel, not HIPP, but HIPP-kissed.

For the reader, I’m conflicted with this approach. And maybe it is the eventual evolution of the movement. This album to me sounds closer to those made by many HIPP ensembles than, say, Itzhak Perlman’s. And maybe that’s why this album exists. We already have so many HIPP recordings. What if HIPP and CPP (contemporary performance practice) met in a bar and the two had a baby?

Performance Notes

In general I am not liking the way Kavakos approaches the slower middle movements. I feel he’s holding back a bit with the potential for how to make the solos sing. Carmignola I think in general does a better job in this area, which may be a fitting comparison to Kavakos, both having careers outside the HIPP approach. The solo parts for me just felt a little square.

That said, I really enjoyed Kavakos’s spirit and the ornaments and flourishes he uses in the faster outer movements. I think he had the most fun in the first concerto. My philosophical issues aside, there’s no hiding his strength as a violinist. The consistency of articulations in the opening solo in the G minor concerto BWV 1056 (another reconstruction) speaks to his technical skill. There are parts where I wish he’d play more with dynamic variation, but conversely, he does seem to uniformly apply his performance style across the entire album. The tempo of the same concerto’s opening movement I think adopts a more relaxed tempo, fitting the music perfectly. The third movement, played faster, seems again to be a most-appropriate tempo, at least with a violin as the solo instrument.

The balance of the other string players with their soloist is well done and well-captured by the sound engineers. It’s only the harpsichord which got buried, but not completely; Iason Marmaras’s flourishes do make the light of day which always made me smile.

I’d certainly invite readers to audition to competing albums which I enjoyed of Bach’s music by HIPP ensembles. Fabio Biondi’s recording with Europa Galante (Virgin) for me was always special for his own playing style; the other by Shunske Sato with Il Pomo d’Oro puts the solo violin, perhaps, in a more rhetorical role. For me these two get beyond the earlier days of HIPP when everyone was out to record Bach; they illustrate HIPP after the dawn of Harnoncourt, Pinnock, and Kuijken.

That said, this new album may illustrate the evolution even further.

Despite my own preference for the two albums I just mentioned, I cannot deny there is something of real interest here to listeners. I read the liner notes first and expected to hate this album but the warm smile of the violinist on the front conveys visually I think his love for this music and a generous spirit that dominates the fast movements with technical prowess and virtuosity.