“Does anyone else hear constant squeaking?” I love these pieces of music and am in the process of comparing many different recordings. I haven’t listened to Szeryng’s version nearly as much as others, but I do like it a great deal. His appears, to me, to be a more focused, precise approach. The sound is a bit drier than some more recent recordings perhaps, but overall I feel his interpretation is distinct and satisfying.

However, I am a bit distracted by constant squeaking throughout the recordings. I don’t know enough about playing the violin to understand the source of this noise (technique, bow control, etc?) but I wonder if anyone else has heard it or finds it curious? I compare it to Milstein’s 1970s DG version, where none of these types of sounds are apparent…?

List Price: $17.98
Our Price: $10.09
You Save: $7.89 (44%)



The best recording of the greatest music ever written
I am an unabashed JS Bach fan. I think he is the greatest composer of all time. And I think that his unaccompanied string music — the violin and the cello music — is his greatest music. The violin pieces are, very simply, the greatest music ever written. The Chaconne is the single greatest piece of music ever written; it always brings tears to my eyes, no matter how many times I hear it. If you ever doubt that God exists, listen to this music; nothing so beautiful could possibly have been created in a world without God.

Feeling this way, I have listened to many recordings of this music. I like the music on both its original instruments and transcribed to the guitar. I think that the Andres Segovia recording of this music is arguably one of the finest recordings ever made. I am also very fond of the new Hilary Hahn recording of this music; it has a marvelous lightness and brillance to it.

For my money, though, this recording is the single best one out there. Szeryng gives the best overal performance of the music that I have ever heard. It is like he simply erases himself, and the pure sound comes through. His handling of the music is marvelously understated, in the sense of never showing off for its own sake, but also fabulously versatile. He has a very full range, and this music tests it to the limit. A wonderful, wonderful, wonderful album….more info

Impeccable! The standard performance
Henryk Szeryng’s “choked up”, unembellished sound makes for a spot-on, highly profound and emotionally charged interpretation. He really gets to the heart of the matter here that leaves all other performances of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas that I have heard in its wake….more info

Szeryng en la cuspide
Cuento con varias versiones (entre Cd y Lps) de estas obras maestras. Entre las interpretaciones mas destacadas estan las de Kuijken, Milstein, Heifetz, Menuhin, y finalmente Grumiaux y Szeryng, estas dos ultimas son las que mas me han satisfecho personalmente. La version de Grumiaux es de una gran belleza acustica, virtuosismo y elegancia musical. La version de Szering no se queda atras en todo esto, quizas solo un punto abajo en lo que respecta a lo que yo llamaria “dulzura melodica” que se disfruta en ocaciones un poco mas en la grabacion de Grumiaux. Sin embargo la interpretacion de Szering sobrepasa en la profundidad espiritual y en el sentido trascendente y hasta religioso de la obra, en su ejecucion no hay una sola nota que no este cargada de intencion respecto al todo estructural de la obra, no cae en el virtuosismo por el puro virtuosismo. Sin ser en nada inferiores las otras extraordinarias grabaciones de estas obras para violin solo, para mi, la de Szering, es la mas sincera y profunda de las interpretaciones que se han grabado de estas Sonatas & Partitas para Violin Solo del “quinto evangelista” Johann Sebastian Bach ….more info