Rachel Podger - Guardian Angel: Works by Biber, Bach, Tartini & Pisendel (2013)

The title of Rachel Podger’s new disc is taken from an engraving of an angel and child on the manuscript of the piece that closes it: Biber’s haunting G minor Passacaglia, a work whose implications would find their apotheosis in Bach’s great D minor Chaconne for solo violin some 40 years later. But there’s a sense that, when it comes to the unaccompanied violin repertoire of the Baroque, Podger is something of a ‘guardian angel’ herself.

Here she champions lesser-known figures such as Matteis – a violinist whose London performances were described by the diarist John Evelyn as ‘stupendious’ – while despatching Pisendel and Tartini with an almost angelic insouciance. Having already recorded peerless accounts of the Bach solo Sonatas and Partitas, Podger opens with her own transcription of the A minor Flute Partita, BWV 1013 – transposed into G minor, ensuring that the disc goes tonally full circle by ending with the Biber in the same key – and the result is so idiomatically persuasive it will give ammunition to those who have long suspected a violin ‘original’ lurking behind the Partita BWV 1013’s flutey exterior. Characteristically unforced and natural, the playing manages to sound endlessly considered yet spontaneous. There’s a sureness to the placing of every note, whether poised or bristling with bite and bravado. And Podger speaks the Italian of Tartini with a native fluency that, in the A minor Sonata’s first Allegro, is deliciously conversational, almost conspiratorial. All in all, utterly ‘stupendious’.

Review by Paul Riley, BBC Classical-Music.com

This album could be seen as a companion to Rachel Podger’s memorable account of Bach’s solo violin music (7/99, 12/99), providing a context and exploring some of the different ways Baroque composers approached writing for unaccompanied violin. Bach himself makes an appearance with the Flute Partita, transposed down from A to G minor, and, in this performance, sounding entirely comfortable as violin music. Of the other composers, Pisendel, leader of the Dresden orchestra, stands closest to Bach in the technical complexity of his writing. Podger’s beautiful playing of the first movement’s written-out decorations and her vital approach throughout the sonata mix virtuosity with an element of grandeur. The impression is powerful, thanks to her customary polished delivery combined with a bold, temperamental style.

In their different ways, Matteis and Tartini demonstrate an alternative way of writing for solo violin (apart from Matteis’s fugal Fantasia) – concentrating on a single melodic line, with harmony more lightly touched in. Both composers rely on ornamentation to enhance the expressive effect and Podger’s performance is outstanding, its precision and imagination creating a winning impression of spontaneity. Matteis’s ‘Passaggio rotto’ really sounds as though the music is being improvised.

Podger gives an outstanding performance, too, of the Biber Passacaglia, projecting the dynamic of the whole piece most persuasively and characterising vividly each stage of Biber’s inventive elaboration of the simple ground bass. We’re left in no doubt that this is one of the peaks of Baroque violin music.

Review by Duncan Druce, Gramophone

Given that the aim of this recording, announced in the booklet notes, is to "[demonstrate] how composers in Germany, Italy, Austria, and England responded to the challenges of writing for the violin senza basso, it's a bit odd to begin the proceedings with a work that's not for violin at all. However, the transcription for solo violin of Bach's underplayed Partita for flute in A minor, BWV 1013, by violinist Rachel Podger herself, is quite idiomatic to the violin, and Podger's performance is lively and attractive. From Bach, Podger looks outward to other solo violin works rather than back to the tradition immediately preceding Bach's unaccompanied sonatas and partitas. The works don't have anything directly to do with one another, but they are united in part by being Podger's favorites, and there are some fascinating offbeat pieces that do indeed seem to have counterparts in Bach's magisterial compendia. Consider the very nice pair of solo sonatas by Giuseppe Tartini. In the Giga movement of the first one, the violin takes its solo and is answered by itself in the role not only of harmonic accompaniment but of orchestral figure. The pieces by Nicola Matteis, who inaugurated the entire migration of Italian musicians to Britain, have a fantastic spirit, while the sonata by Pisendel, which may have preceded or followed Bach's pieces, is at least similar to them in language, although less deep. A selection from Biber's Rosary Sonatas works well as a finale. One minor flaw is that notes describe a sonata by Antonio Montanari that is not actually included; a more serious problem is overresonant church sound inconsistent with the chamber purposes of the music.

Review by James Manheim, Allmusic.com

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 8. March 2016, 1:13

Rachel Podger / Guardian Angel

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GU70N Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:07.54 | 0 | 18578
2 | 4:07.54 | 3:41.65 | 18579 | 35218
3 | 7:49.44 | 5:26.60 | 35219 | 59728
4 | 13:16.29 | 2:40.50 | 59729 | 71778
5 | 15:57.04 | 2:34.20 | 71779 | 83348
6 | 18:31.24 | 1:51.15 | 83349 | 91688
7 | 20:22.39 | 2:49.40 | 91689 | 104403
8 | 23:12.04 | 1:40.42 | 104404 | 111945
9 | 24:52.46 | 2:15.40 | 111946 | 122110
10 | 27:08.11 | 3:41.60 | 122111 | 138745
11 | 30:49.71 | 1:21.58 | 138746 | 144878
12 | 32:11.54 | 12:12.70 | 144879 | 199848
13 | 44:24.49 | 4:45.72 | 199849 | 221295
14 | 49:10.46 | 2:48.58 | 221296 | 233953
15 | 51:59.29 | 2:48.20 | 233954 | 246573
16 | 54:47.49 | 2:45.15 | 246574 | 258963
17 | 57:32.64 | 5:16.27 | 258964 | 282690
18 | 62:49.16 | 2:49.03 | 282691 | 295368
19 | 65:38.19 | 4:00.15 | 295369 | 313383
20 | 69:38.34 | 8:52.20 | 313384 | 353303


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\temp\CCS SA 35513 Guardian Angel - Rachel Podger\Guardian Angel.wav

Peak level 43.0 %
Extraction speed 2.3 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 0386BD16
Copy CRC 0386BD16
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [9B3F88F5] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [5320313C] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [F95CF993] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [1D0612E1] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [3D7F70C9] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [D1CB47F7] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [AC915691] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [B889579B] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [80C4A8DF] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [3F3A139F] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [48EBCCCC] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [19275FF5] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [13D5F7AD] (AR v2)
Track 14 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [2E1BF408] (AR v2)
Track 15 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [621DC409] (AR v2)
Track 16 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [DEF57100] (AR v2)
Track 17 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [6ECB902D] (AR v2)
Track 18 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [851982FF] (AR v2)
Track 19 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [940F3EFA] (AR v2)
Track 20 accurately ripped (confidence 21) [F847C8BD] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

==== Log checksum AA96589A402B3FE9510E4728D2B6FD1183EF3EFD432317EF6601E065FC0F7827 ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-03-15 15:18:19

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Rachel Podger / Guardian Angel
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -10.22 dB -27.81 dB 4:08 01-Bach: Partita for flute in A minor, BWV 1013 - I. Allemande
DR14 -12.09 dB -29.35 dB 3:42 02-Bach: Partita for flute in A minor, BWV 1013 - II. Corrente
DR14 -12.75 dB -31.23 dB 5:27 03-Bach: Partita for flute in A minor, BWV 1013 - III. Sarabande
DR14 -12.51 dB -29.99 dB 2:41 04-Bach: Partita for flute in A minor, BWV 1013 - IV. Bourйe Anglaise
DR13 -14.75 dB -31.22 dB 2:34 05-Matteis: From: Other Ayrs, Preludes, Allmands, Sarabands etc. - The 2nd Part - Passagio rotto
DR12 -10.10 dB -27.78 dB 1:51 06-Matteis: From: Other Ayrs, Preludes, Allmands, Sarabands etc. - The 2nd Part - Fantasia
DR14 -11.74 dB -30.19 dB 2:50 07-Matteis: From: Other Ayrs, Preludes, Allmands, Sarabands etc. - The 2nd Part - Movimento incognito
DR13 -11.59 dB -29.04 dB 1:41 08-Tartini: Sonata in A minor, B: a3 - I. Cantabile
DR15 -10.61 dB -29.53 dB 2:16 09-Tartini: Sonata in A minor, B: a3 - II. Allegro
DR12 -8.85 dB -28.14 dB 3:42 10-Tartini: Sonata in A minor, B: a3 - III. Allegro
DR13 -10.96 dB -28.77 dB 1:22 11-Tartini: Sonata in A minor, B: a3 - IV. Giga
DR16 -10.93 dB -31.37 dB 12:13 12-Tartini: Sonata in A minor, B: a3 - V. Theme and variations
DR14 -11.81 dB -30.52 dB 4:46 13-Tartini: Sonata in B minor, No.13, B: h1 - I. Andante
DR14 -10.76 dB -28.69 dB 2:49 14-Tartini: Sonata in B minor, No.13, B: h1 - II. Allegro assai
DR14 -9.97 dB -29.61 dB 2:48 15-Tartini: Sonata in B minor, No.13, B: h1 - III. Giga. Allegro affettuoso
DR14 -10.68 dB -30.06 dB 2:45 16-Pisendel: Sonata per violino solo senza basso - I.
DR14 -8.41 dB -28.35 dB 5:16 17-Pisendel: Sonata per violino solo senza basso - II. Allegro
DR13 -7.33 dB -27.16 dB 2:49 18-Pisendel: Sonata per violino solo senza basso - III. Giga
DR14 -7.66 dB -27.23 dB 4:00 19-Pisendel: Sonata per violino solo senza basso - IV. Varoatione
DR14 -10.33 dB -29.24 dB 8:52 20-Biber: From: Mystery Sonatas: Passacaglia in G minor for solo violin
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 20
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 607 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================