Double Review: Bojan Čičić and Rachel Podger Play Biber

Andrew Manze’s 1994 album of Biber’s 1681 Violin Sonatas (Harmonia Mundi) introduced many to this repertoire and the recording quickly became a prime recommendation. Bojan Čičić was one of those listeners, who credits Manze’s recording as the reason he wanted to learn more about this composer in particular and baroque music in general. So, this new release has a special significance for Čičić, a quality that comes across in every performance.

Biber – Sonatas, 1681

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Readers may be familiar with Biber’s more widely recorded Rosary Sonatas (previously recorded by Podger), which have an obvious spiritual/religious element. But the 1681 sonatas are focused on overt virtuosity. Charles Burney, in his “A General History of Music,” described Biber’s works as ‘the most difficult and fanciful of any music I have seen of the same period,’ something illustrated time and again throughout this album, in which rapidly bowed figuration, complex multiple stoppings and string crossings are common compositional norms.

Scordatura (the changing of the violin’s strings from the normal tunings of G, D, A, and E – a pervasively used technique in the Rosary Sonatas) is adopted halfway through the fourth sonata. And Biber notates the eighth sonata, encouraging the player to treat the violin as a true harmonic instrument. The Sonatas typically open with a Prelude and include at least one variation movement featuring increasingly complex technical hurdles.

Čičić, who is currently based in England and leader of the Academy of Ancient Music, is simply superb. He meets and exceeds every challenge – indeed, his facility makes even the trickiest difficulties seem easy. I would not want to hear the entire album in one sitting (this is also true of albums dedicated to the Etudes of Chopin and Liszt); too much technical brilliance at one time draws my attention away from the music to the showman aspect of the writing, surely not what Čičić intends.

improvisatory spontaneity

Čičić’s continuo group ‘The Illyria Consort’ (theorbo, harp, harpsichord, and organ) offers a pleasing color variety, but the mix is sometimes questionable. For example, Sonata No. 1 begins with a Prelude in which the A-Major tonic chord (played here by the organ with a few harp additions) is basically sustained, with too little variance (1’40”). Rachel Podger’s colleagues, on the other hand (track 5) fashion something far more imaginative. Čičić’s continuo is sometimes too staid, seemingly disconnected from the violin, whereas the Brecon Baroque react to and interact with Podger – an approach that makes more sense to me.

Just Biber

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Rachel Podger is more self-effacing, her tone thinner and silvery. She uses more vibrato, taking more time to generate a feeling of quixotic, improvisatory spontaneity. Čičić is more literal, embracing those qualities to a lesser degree (though not less convincing).

Some will be frustrated that Podger has recorded five of the eight sonatas (making her release a single CD versus Čičić’ 2-CD set). She does include Biber’s ‘Sonata Representativa,’ in which the violin is made to imitate different animals. While the work is an interesting novelty, I cannot imagine often returning to it. Nevertheless, in the context of the overall program it provides a much-appreciated moment of variety and humor.

The engineering is also different, though both recordings capture the players in a small intimate space. Delphian’s sound places the listener on the stage with the players, so physically close to Cičić’ that at times I found it wearying, and it lessens the effect of his dynamic changes. Channel’s recording places us half-way back in the hall, so that more of the room’s ambiance mixes into the overall sound. There is more air around Podger and her colleagues, which I prefer. Ancillary materials for both recordings are excellent.

Both albums showed a clear connection between this music and Bach’s Violin Sonatas and Partitas, written four decades later. Lovers of those Bach works will find much to admire and love here.