Bach Partita No 2. in D minor

You are probably smart to start with the Allemande and the Gigue. Just don't underestimate the difficulty of intonation in the Allemande - it may look easy, but it's not. You have to pay a lot of attention to tempering (which notes in a line should any given stopped note be in tune with). Practice really slowly, with a tape recording. (I did this for a full month before performing the Allemande, and it still stunk the first time IMHO.)

For some reason that someone more knowledgeable could probably explain, I find the Allemande one of the most difficult pieces that I play in terms of tempering intonation correctly. Well worth it, though. I am a big fan of Rachel Podger's version of these pieces, btw.

Musically, I think there are a lot of decent, musically effective (if not musicologically authentic) ways to go with the Allemande especially. I currently tend to favor some longish pauses and rubatos between, say, the second and third note, for dramatic effect, which would probably give the period players a heart attack. (How long a pause I do depends on how long it takes reverb to die down in the hall. Churches rock for this.) This is one of those sections that I think has leeway for a lot of different styles.

Good luck! You're starting a journey that could easily last a lifetime. :-)

Francis

The Allemande and the Gigue are great to play from the second partita.

The one major problem I had in the Gigue was keeping the tempo steady, so you might want to use the metronome a lot for the Gigue.

I also had some trouble finding phrasings in the Allemande wehen i first started it, until I started humming it.

One issue with open strings, as my teacher points out, is that they sounded different in the Baroque period because of the gut. You have to take that into account in determining how much you want to use them, particularly the open E string.

You should definitely perform a musical analysis of the various pieces before playing them. Figure out the rhythmic pulses and counterpoint, the tonal modulations, think seriously about fingerings and experiment with them, listen to as many recorded versions as you can both modern and baroque (and there are dozens...with no two alike), go through as many sheet music versions as you can, making sure that you've given the original a good look through. Then make choices.

Once you've got choices to the above, set yourself goals to achieve them. If you're a violinist of any merit, you will spend your entire life evolving musically around the Bach S/P. So as you begin so shall you go.

As far as suggestions, ofcourse playing in tune and in time is a given, afterwhich it is best to formulate your own opinion about the work.

Szeryng is among my favorite recordings and these days Hilary Hahn as well.
There are other excellent recordings by Shumsky, Szigeti and Milstein which are all wonderful.

Having said that, the Milstein recording (Capitol) is best.

In my list of favorite recordings of the work, I forgot Grumiaux. :)

check this out...

www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

Gennady, that music of Szigeti's should be in a museum or in a shrine all of its own!

ps:ten years ago I started on a project to make this document available in a new Szigeti edition with Eric Wen, who used to work for STRAD. But we ran into some problems that had to do with family rights etc."

Perhaps in time, I will be able to work things out and make it available.

Jonathan, thank you for answering my question.

Yehudi's chaccone got that bite, aggress and drama.

I don't have my music in front of me, but my first thought when you said 'one bar in the Gigue' was the one where it's something like Bb F D F E C# then does that same basic pattern 3 times, slurring G/D/A strings together on one bow? Yeah. Dr. Ross, the teacher who started me on this, would always have me figure out my own bowings and fingerings, and then I would bring them in and he would say "this is good, this isn't, this is good but try this" etc. I told him I couldn't figure anything out for that measure. His response?

There is no good fingering.

I just play it in 1st position. And just make sure to practice it verrrrrrrrrrrry verry slowly a lot.

Perhaps in time, I will be able to work things out and make it available.

If you would like to dish out a whole chunk of money and cover family rights issues, then give me a hollar, otherwise "Tace atque abi" and "Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris" (if Ceasar was alive, you'd be chained to an oar) :)

I will reiterate: "your faulty logic undermines your entire philosophy!!" :)

erratta:
currently in Bankruptcy as well as in denial of having "faulty logic which undermines his entire philosophy" :(

ps: but I applaud him for still loving music and the violin despite all the years in WM.

As for the 'Giga' section you mention, I would say, humbly, it's simply a matter of what you prefer, all first with a few little stretches, or mostly second with one little stretch. As you know there are thousands of spots in the violin repertoire where a string crossing passage doesn't fit into one position.

It's awkward, but what I do is 1st position with 3rd finger for the C#. 2 2 3 1 0 3

I agree, practicing slowly and probably playing the entire piece slower than you think will work. Szeryng does play it slower than the other recordings. I like his interpretation and the sound of his violin too.

The main challenge here is not fingering but bowing. Make sure that 'c#' is played with active upper arm up bow up to very frog. And the next bass sound should appear very bright, not 'scratchy'. Actually there is bass line: Bb, A, G (every first sound) which shows changing of harmony: VI-T6/4-IV7. All rest notes are the same (exept of the last one, which leads to continue same harmony in the next measure). So this bass line is very impotant. Don't ignore to 'show' it. About fingering... it is easy if you practice by chords, or, in other words, if you place fingers down 'earlier' than sound appears. String crossing... all notes should be even (I mean time). So it is good to practice this way: 1st time play emphasizing each 1st note; 2nd time-each 2nd;... and so on. You can even play these notes (emphacized) longer in time, with slight accent and louder than other rest notes. Again don't forget to start each section from the very frog with active upper arm.

I also agree in the necessity to be at the frog for the Bf,A,G so that the emphasis needed for each of the 3 notes can be rendered. It is the harmonic highlight of the Giga.

Tempi are also very important in all the S/P. The Giga was a lively dance and the continuous rhythmic structure must be there. Though I greatly admire the violinist performances given by Heifetz in his two recordings of them, I believe he plays them faster than the dance would allow. This pyrotechnical aspect has become somewhat, though definitely not solely, the norm in most versions. The problem is that the ratio of speed to the 16ths changes in relation to the crossing of the strings and ends up adding a slight non-rhythmic (in the dance sense) feel to the Giga.

Also important is the phrasing and the slurs. If you do a historical study of the versions of the Giga you will see that Bach's Urtext has been deviated from in this regard. Bach was an excellent violinist, it would have been out of character for him to write slurs where he didn't want them. Yet this is precisely what has taken place over the years.

Don't approach any of the partitas as an invitation to show off your violin virtuosity. Instead work on the soul of the pieces. You might be interested in a recording from ECM titled "Morimur." Just do a Google search for it. It puts forward the theories of Prof. Dr. Helga Thoene. The recording will leave you breathless no matter what side you come down regarding Dr. Thoene's concepts. Dr. Poppen's renditions will give you one sampling of how baroque music ought to be played. Do find an acoustically "live" place for your performance if you can.