If anything, Volume 2 of Geneviève Soly’s remarkable survey of Graupner harpsichord partitas offers even more riches than the first volume. What makes these works so enjoyable is their abundant melodic inspiration and technical brilliance. Graupner had a knack for instantly characterizing each and every dance type portrayed here, maximizing the contrast and variety within each work. Take the C minor Partita that opens the disc: It begins with a richly harmonized Allemande that moves in numerous unexpected directions, then follows with a jolly Courante with a catchy, rollicking rhythm. Soly highlights the melodic piquancy of the ensuing Sarabande with ear-catching registration before turning to a Rigaudon en Rondeaux as tuneful as any Handelian Hornpipe. The final Gigue is a densely scored fugue that brings the piece to a weighty and virtuosic finish. There are no dead spots, nothing to suggest a composer coasting along on auto-pilot. Every movement has something distinctive to offer.
The same remarks hold true for the F major Partita, a very expansive work in eight movements that includes a remarkable Sarabande and Four Variations. The tune is more harmonic scheme than actual melody, in the same rhythm as the opening C major Prelude of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues. The variations progressively dissolve the theme into a mass of virtuoso figuration, until at the end we come to a sort of gigantic harpsichord equivalent à la Graupner to one of Chopin’s arpeggio études. It’s just marvelous, as are the two contrasting Menuets that precede it, one slow and stately, the other swift and sprightly. Anyone who enjoys, say, Handel’s Harmonious Blacksmith variations will find himself in comfortable territory here.
After the two main works Soly offers some individual movements of equal charm and distinction. Most noteworthy are the Aria in E-flat major, which sounds delightful when (as here) it’s played on the instrument’s lute stop, and a finale prestissimo Gigue in C major, as brilliant and exciting as anything by Scarlatti, and played by Soly with immense gusto and verve. As with the previous volume, Analekta’s sonics put the instrument right in your listening room without capturing obtrusive mechanical noise. In its bright tone and range of available colors, Soly’s harpsichord–a large Hamburg-style double manual model from 2002 based on examples of H.A. Hass ca. 1730–strikes me as ideal for the music, and as suggested above, Graupner couldn’t ask for a finer interpreter than Soly.
