Originally issued on four single CDs, Linn Records bundles lutenist Nigel North’s transcriptions of the Bach unaccompanied violin and cello works together in a specially priced box. A 13-course lute cannot match a violin’s cutting intensity and sustaining power, nor a cello’s robust projection. On the other hand, the lute can easily fill out Bach’s implied harmonic textures without making the music sound upholstered. In each and every movement, North astonishes with his effortless technique and stylish intelligence. The music’s dance origins emerge in perfect alignment with North’s canny tempo choices and limber phrasing. No matter how many notes permeate the great D minor Chaconne, for example, North never lets the basic harmonic skeleton bog down in order to accommodate his fingers. True, his sound is not as uniformly pretty and rounded as Hopskinson Smith’s, whose own sensitive, ingenuously embellished transcriptions of the violin works for Naive Astrée boast superior engineering. Yet North strikes deeper chords, so to speak, by his provocative accents, keen contrapuntal ear, and firmer rhythm, all of which place the music ahead of the instrument. An intriguing release. [8/11/2000]
