When Jaap Schröder recorded Bach’s sonatas and partitas for the Smithsonian Institute in 1984/85, catalog competition among baroque violinists was light compared to 20 years later. Now that Naxos has reissued Schröder’s Bach, have the performances stood the test of time? Yes and no. Listeners wishing a more intimate, softer-grained, less cosmic view of these works than, say, Tetzlaff or Szigeti, will find Schröder’s relaxed command of his instrument appealing. Cogent examples of this approach include his airy, unpressured accounts of the G minor sonata’s Gigue and the E major partita’s Preludio. At the same time, Schröder sometimes compromises the music’s rhythmic momentum in order to accommodate wide arpeggiated chords and double stops, as you hear in the three sonata fugues and in the C major sonata’s opening Adagio. Likewise, the great D minor Chaconne sounds relatively strained and shapeless next to Sigiswald Kuijken’s stronger polyphonic projection and more incisive bow arm. Kuijken’s cycle for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi originally was released around the same time as Schröder’s, and it remains the preferred period violin reference version. You also might consider Naxos’ other solo Bach cycle, a fine all-around traversal with baroque violinist Lucy van Dael.
