JAVS Spring 2006

RECORDING REVIEWS LILLIAN FUCHS' BRILLIANT SUITES REISSUED BACH

al attempts to transfer the Suites to cassette tape and more recently have had them "burned" on COs, with tl1e annoying "hiss'' ever present. When I heard that a 2-disk CD was released of Lillian Fuchs' Bach Suites from the old Decca record ings, ir was a dream come true! T he CD cover notes include a quote from Pablo Casals following her performance of rhe Sixth Suite at the Prades Fest ival. He com mented, "On the viola, it sounds better! " Although he may have been referring specifica lly ro rhar particular Bach Sui re, this is the opinion I have long held of her performance of all of them. Over the years 1 have listened to them in derail and have carefu lly used them to inspire my students. Now the newly- released CD wi ll bring this pre-eminent violist and her trade mark performances of the Bach Suites to an eager new generation of violists. I have selected one Suite from each disk in the discuss ion chat follows . Suite #I in G Major Lillian Fuchs celebrates the viola - the instrument- in these Suires. Beginning with Suire # 1 in G Major, for example, Fuchs starts rhe Prelude by pronouncing a solid open G - giving it just enough time to respond as the foundati on of the tonic chord so we hear G Major both horizontally and verti-

Lillian Fuchs: Bach Six Suites Doremi Legendary Treasures Series DHR- 7801/2

violist with the Title Ill Project called "Music in Maine." I was new ro Maine and new to the viola as a full-rime commitment, and needed to learn its so lo literature. I was thrilled when Li llian agreed to take me as a private student in her home studio in NYC, and 1 trav eled there from Bangor, Maine once a month for two years. It was during this time that her husband helped me obtain the priceless set of three Decca LPs that 1 have used and treasured for almost 40 years. Because these reco rds are so fragile, I made sever

By Julia Adams

I flrsr mer Lillian Fuchs in 1966 when she was teaching and per forming at a summer program in Maine. I had only recently "con vened" to the viola, having received my MA in Performance from San Francisco Scare College that Spring with a violin major but a chamber music scholarship on rhe viola. The impetus for my "conversion" was my first joh, as a

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