For years Johanna Martzy’s 1954-55 solo Bach recordings for EMI commanded huge sums on out-of-print LP lists, even after they were reissued in a French budget CD box alongside Janos Starker’s EMI Bach Suites. Collectors who own the latter will find Paul Bailey’s newly minted Testament transfers fuller in amplitude and boasting more palpable room tone. Martzy tends to favor slow tempos, yet she holds interest by virtue of her hefty tone (what richness she gets from the lowest strings!), subtle dynamic variations, and expressive vibrato. If she doesn’t match the elder Szigeti’s harmonic intensity, her superior intonation and steadier bow arm compensate, save for her sometimes labored execution in the E major Preludio.
That said, I find faster movements such as the G minor Presto, A minor Allegro, and C major Allegro assai rather square and uneventful in Martzy’s hands, while her C major Fuga and both B minor and D minor Correntes sound relatively flaccid and under-characterized in comparison with James Ehnes’ comparably measured traversals. But the hushed, sustained intensity with which she imbues softer, more introspective music such as the great D minor Chaconne’s central major section and the A minor Andante easily explain why certain collectors fawned over Martzy.
Testament’s reduced price will entice those who’ve wanted to investigate these recordings without going into debt, and Tully Potter’s annotations are excellently written and informative, notwithstanding an arguably gratuitous dig at producer Walter Legge.
