JAVS Spring 2006

broad sweep with her bow on the final open G string brings the music full circle.

With its linear, sustai ned approach, the Sarabande stands alone in her in terpretatio n o f the 4 th Sui te. Students can learn from rhis per fo rmance rhe power of a tempo that instead of being ''slow" can be characterized as "reluctant. " The duet cha racter in trod uces suspen sions li ke the one in measure 8, where she chooses ro sustain rhe lower F th rough the resolutio n from B-Aat to A. By ta king time on rhe wonderful rrirone five rneas urt:s before the end, she brings a special tension that resolves a full measure later. Her timing is always in service to the shapes and phrases of rhe m usic itself T he duple meter Bourn~e I has a livel ier character than its Minuet cousin, and here Lillian Fuchs b rings out irs renaissance o rigins with clear articulation o f the dactylic mo tive: long, short, sho rt. H er generally darker character fo r this Sui te can be perceived in this movemen t by a lack of those fre q uent echoes so typical of o ther interprt:tations. ln its companion Bouree II, she separates t he dut:t with a legato upper line while marking the lower voice. To close Suite IV, Lillian Fuchs gives us a G igue of unique spiri t. Even the opening pick-up is pre cisely timed to her dashing rernpo and tht: movt:ment is a rt:al tour de force displaying her amazing tech nica l and exp re.~s i ve talent. It is the perfect juxtaposition o f discipline and exuberance. Wh at is so thrilling about tht: old recordings from the pre-digital age is that we hea r a t rue perfo rmance where an artist's talent and character are fully

exprt:ssed. In this C igue we hear her personal triump h at the pick up to measure 3 after the double bar, and her emotional dep th on the C -flat of the unsuspected diminished 7 th arpeggio ten meas ures befo re the end. The emoti on is all ca rried through in these COs. Fuchs achieves her mastery of the Bach Suitt:s th rough ht:r prodi gious talent and its service to the music. She always to ld her stu dents " 1 - 3 - 5," which referred ro positions and meant "stick to the bas ics!" Of course she frequently employed extensio ns, 1/2 and 2nd positions - bu t those were used after the options of open strings

Suite No.IV in E-flat Major

Although emo tional characteristics for given keys are "disputed" (New Harvard Dictionary o f Music, p.427), Lillian Fuchs chooses a generally darker and consistently stronger approach in the E-flat Majo r Suite. From the outset she pushes her large Gasparo da Salo to the limits of its power; four bars before rhe first fermata in rhe Prelude, she produces an almost exu·eme fo rte dynamic with strong left-hand finger placements to match. The en t ire Prelude main - ta ins an insisten t power of articu lated 8th notes, relieved only by p ronounced dynamic contras ts and by the occasional 16th-note caden zas that break the disciplined rhythm of rhe body of the work. She appears to set up a stylistic contrast at the beginning o f t he Allemande w ith an elo ngated and singing upbeat and downbeat. Bur the strong articulation of the fo l lowing disjunct 8th-note mo tive is an unmistakable connection to the Prelude. The Couram e, too, con tinues rh e marked style ser by the Prelude wh ile Fuchs allows the triplets to take over the running cha racter o f the dance. Particularly deligh tful is rhe way Ms. Fuchs balances rhythmic outlines by making up for lost rime following the octave cadences. N oticeable, too, is her wonderful 0-Aat 8 after the double bar, which is miss ing in some edi tions.

OLUME 22

NUMBER 1

45