I yield to no one in my admiration and respect for the late Sándor Végh, whose place in chamber music history is secured through his revelatory Beethoven and Bartok cycles recorded with the Vegh Quartet in the 1970s. Unfortunately, his solo Bach is beset by technical shortcomings and poor intonation that add up to a sadly painful listening experience. It’s a shame, because we can all learn from Vegh’s deep absorption into these endlessly rewarding scores, his tellingly scaled dynamics, and phrasing borne out of melodic logic rather than where the barlines fall. Vegh is inconsistent in regard to second-half repeats and how he approaches trills. But these issues, as well as the excellent sonics, are academic in light of this set’s obvious executional problems. I can’t recommend it.
