in Early Music Today (Mar, 2016)
Steven Isserlis has already made a superlative recording of the Bach cello suites, so it’s no surprise that he’s now appropriated the composer’s gamba sonatas for his instrument. In his CD notes he acknowledges that the cello ‘perhaps throws up a few more questions of balance’ than arise between gamba and harpsichord, adding that ‘it is lovely for us cellists … to be able to play as lightly as possible without ever courting inaudibility.’
Unfortunately, although Isserlis does play with a wonderfully light touch, it is Richard Egarr’s filigree harpsichord that courts inaudibility, often reduced to a background tinkle by the CD’s skewed sound balance. This is more of a problem …
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