Elina Mustonen - Johann Sebastian Bach: 6 Partitas (2009) 2CDs

Elina Mustonen began playing the harpsichord at the age of eight. After completing her studies at the Sibelius Academy in 1983, she proceeded to the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam to study with Ton Koopman and was awarded a soloist diploma in 1988. In 2006 she obtained her Doctoral degree at the Sibelius Academy. The topic of her thesis was J.S. Bach's harpsichord pedagogy.

Ever since her debut concert at the Jyväskylä Summer Festival in 1987 Ms. Mustonen has performed widely as a soloist and chamber musician. In addition to Finland, she has been heard in Estonia, Iceland, Germany, the UK, Italy, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States. Ms. Mustonen has appeared as a soloist with most of the Finnish orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Sinfonia Lahti and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. Her repertoire includes not only the major Baroque concertos but also the harpsichord concertos of Francis Poulenc, Bohuslav Martinu and Manuel de Falla.

Ms. Mustonen has made several critically acclaimed recordings. Her latest achievement is a complete recording of the Six Partitas by J.S. Bach. This was preceded by Scarlattiana - a collection of 15 sonatas for harpsichord by Domenico Scarlatti and the complete recordings of the English and French Suites by J.S. Bach. The double CD of the French Suites won a special mention in the Record of the Year awards of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) in 1999. Elina Mustonen has also recorded as a soloist with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra conducted by Ton Koopman for Erato and chamber music by Marais for BIS. Her discography also includes 2XBach, the first volume of the complete works for viola da gamba and harpsichord by J.S., C.Ph.E. and J.C. Bach together with Veli-Markus Tapio.

The Scarlattiana recording and Ms. Mustonen's harpsichord playing are at the center of the stage production of "A bird is known by its song", based on José Saramago's Nobel prize winning novel "Baltasar and Blimunda". The Finnish premiere was held in Helsinki in 2007 and honoured by Mr. Saramago's presence. Since then the production has toured widely in Finland and Europe.

Ms. Mustonen has also recorded for YLE and appeared in international TV productions. Her chamber music partners have included Wieland Kuijken, Laurence Dreyfus, Mark Lubotsky, Mark Peskanov, Rachel Brown, Peter-Lukas Graaf and a host of top Finnish artists. She has appeared as a concerto soloist and continuo player with numerous internationally renowned conductors such as Paavo Berglund, Sakari Oramo, Gennadi Roždestvenski, Ton Koopman, Reinhard Goebel, Okko Kamu, Osmo Vänskä, Andres Mustonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Ralf Gothóni, Olli Mustonen, John Storgårds, and Joseph Swensen.

Elina Mustonen also enjoys a wide reputation as a respected pedagogue in her field. Since 1983 she has been teaching the harpsichord, basso continuo, chamber music and harpsichord pedagogy at the Sibelius Academy. Several of her students have been prize winners in international competitions.

Elina Mustonen, a harpsichordist from Finland who studied with Ton Koopman, is a fine player, scrupulously attentive to the music and with nimble technique. It would be easier to like her new double-disc set of the complete Partitas if there were not so much superior competition (including selections): classic accounts from Leonhardt, a quirky but still lovable rendition by Igor Kipnis and more ‘recent’ versions, including Andreas Staier’s now more than 25-year-old set for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.

The principal drawback of Mustonen’s set is the harpsichord itself, a 1993 instrument based on a Couchet original. It often sounds overwhelmed, especially during the too-frequent movements in which Mustonen favours heavy registration. It is generally clangorous and aggressive in character, and it emphasises the rather surprising infelicities of tuning between the choirs of strings. And while good instruments can produce a lovely, light, nasal sound – an essential for contrast – Mustonen’s produces something more sour-cherries and cloying.

All of this makes for an in-your-face wall of sound during too many of the movements in these masterful hybrid works that bring together the full range of Bach’s keyboard style, with its French and Italian roots. Mustonen never lacks for surface clarity but one misses Leonhardt’s more analytical, and often leisurely, X-ray of the music (compare his almost casual back-and-forth between answering lines in the Fantasia from the Partita No 3 in A minor). One also craves something quirky and distinctive, those small discoveries within a little inner movement that suddenly make it memorable. Staier, in the Corrente of the A minor Partita, produces an exaggerated bounce that makes the movement seem full of elasticity and vigour. It is the sort of thing one rarely gets from Mustonen, who plays it straight, as she does almost everything in this admirable but not thoroughly engaging collection.

Review by Philip Kennicott, Gramophone

Tracklist:

CD1 (1:16:23)

Partita 2 in C minor, BWV826
01. 1. Sinfonia (4:47)
02. 2. Allemande (5:32)
03. 3. Courante (2:38)
04. 4. Sarabande (3:54)
05. 5. Rondeaux (1:43)
06. 6. Capriccio (4:25)

Partita 3 in A minor, BWV827
07. 1. Fantasia (2:27)
08. 2. Allemande (4:00)
09. 3. Corrente (3:49)
10. 4. Sarabande (3:58)
11. 5. Burlesca (2:23)
12. 6. Scherzo (1:11)
13. 7. Gigue (4:00)

Partita 4 in D major, BWV828
14. 1. Ouverture (6:16)
15. 2. Allemande (5:53)
16. 3. Courante (3:45)
17. 4. Aria (2:13)
18. 5. Sarabande (7:43)
19. 6. Menuet (1:27)
20. 7. Gigue (4:20)


CD2 (1:15:58)

Partita 5 in G major, BWV829
01. 1. Praeambulum (2:59)
02. 2. Allemande (5:03)
03. 3. Corrente (2:07)
04. 4. Sarabande (4:23)
05. 5. Tempo di Minuetto (2:08)
06. 6. Passepied (1:44)
07. 7. Gigue (4:25)

Partita 1 in B flat major, BWV825
08. 1. Praeludium (1:52)
09. 2. Allemande (4:10)
10. 3. Corrente (3:12)
11. 4. Sarabande (5:45)
12. 5. Minuet 1 (1:26)
13. 6. Menuet 2 - da capo (1:23)
14. 7. Gigue (2:40)

Partita 6 in E minor, BWV830
15. 1.Toccata (6:34)
16. 2. Allemanda (4:07)
17. 3. Corrente (5:13)
18. 4. Air (1:44)
19. 5. Sarabande (6:20)
20. 6. Tempo di Gavotta (2:17)
21. 7. Gigue (6:26)