SESSION REPORT
TOTAL IMMERSION
British violinist Rachel Podger tells Toby Deller why making her new disc of C.P.E. Bach with keyboard player Kristian Bezuidenhout was an intense and all-consuming experience
A t the end of the third variation of C.P.E. Bach’s Arioso con variazione Wq79, there is – spoiler alert – an almost Schubertian glimpse into the abyss, from which we are saved only by an exquisite last-minute swerve. The moment is impeccably executed by Rachel Podger and Kristian Bezuidenhout in their new release of music for violin and keyboard by the composer, but it is not the only foretaste of later musical styles on the album. While the Sonata in G minor H542.5, the first piece and the earliest chronologically, almost inevitably harks back to the music of C.P.E.’s father J.S. Bach (Podger thinks it could be a collaboration), the second, the Sonata in C minor Wq78, brings other names to mind.
‘I remember on first hearing thinking: what is this? Early Beethoven?’ she recalls. ‘I wasn’t sure what it was. It even has a sense of Sturm und Drang, I would say. There’s real pathos in that opening. Also just the length and breadth of the movement, with this stirring, swirling theme that keeps coming back, and very chromatic. Apparently Brahms loved that piece; he made an edition and performed it as well. I can imagine him loving it. It does feel quite Romantic.’