JAVS Spring 2006

cally. Her instrument resonates through her unapologetic use of open strings, flrsr position, cla ri ty of sequences, and honest phrasi ng rhar is all designed to serve the music. The performance is a blueprint for her choices of style, tempi, fi nger ings, bowi ngs and phrasing; all meticulously worked out and passed on ro her students, whose music she marked with energy ;md conviction. Above all , Fuchs' impeccable in ronarion demon strates the enormous gift that is her primary legacy. T his tiny woman achieves rhe urmo.q in expressive strength at the Prelude's final cl i max and releases the music's power in a single bow that controls the closing diminuendo. It is a study in"ownership" of the music

Fuchs chooses a more sensitive route that all ows her rime ro give every note its place within a given phrase. Even in the widely spaced, disj unct moti on of the third meas ure after rhe double bar, she knows exactly how much rime is needed for rhe notes to speak while main rai ning the tempo's natural Aow. It is in places like this, where musical and technical concerns find a par ticular collision, that her interpre tive artistry has no equal. In rhc Cou ranre, Li ll ian Fuchs gives prime importance and durat ion to the three 8rh-norc motive that begins and pe rvades rhe movement. The "running" character of the movement then rakes Aighr between statements of th is motive whose more declamatory pace continues to define Bach's compos itiona l design. In rhe fas ter sequences that characterize this Couranre her bowing patterns bring our both the fa ll ing ch romatic li ne and the risi ng diatOnic scale.

Giving weight to rhe second bears in the slow Sarabande follows the origi nal dance step the music rep resents. Interestingly she does not incl ude a chord on rhe 2nd beat of measure 4. Of note, as well , arc the pronounced shifts and slow tri lls that always begin from above. A particularly beautifltl touch is the way she chooses to let the lower octave softly reAecr rhe tonality rather than simply repeati ng it. Her Minuet I is a stately dance giving vertical impulse ro the triple meter. Here, again , I find some slides a bit of a "romantic" touch. Oddly these seem more prominent in the CD than the LP. The Minuet II adds linear Auidity with only the slightest change in tempo - giving the two sections more similarity rhan is normally encountered in the average Minuet/Trio move ment. (After all , they are both Minuets!) Of particular interest ro current interpreters is her choice to .~ ray in first posi tion and not travel up the D string in rhe second half of the Minuet IT nor at five before the end of that section. A record ing glitch is evident in the repeat at rhe end of the sixth measure from the conclusion of Minuet ll. Amazingly, rhar gli tch docs nor occur on the earlier LP. Lilli an Fuchs closes the Suire No.1 with a ve ry lively Giguc. Here she is able to contribute both an ener getic lcgaro and a dancing spiccaro ro give rhc movement contrast while main ta ining i t~ vitali ty. And she knows how to bring our rhc scale sequence in the last line of music- n, C#, 0 #, E, F# - lead ing ro the inevitable conclusion; a

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