Georg Böhm Harpsichord Music
Prelude, Fugue & Postlude in G minor; Suites 1-11
Mitzi Meyerson (harpsichord)
Glossa GCD 921801 [2CDs; 96 mins] Distr. Harmonia Mundi

A favourite composer of J.S.Bach's, the harpsichord oeuvre of Georg Böhm (1661-1733), dating most probably from the last years of the 17th century, remains little known and this is the first complete recording of his suites. There is variety and individuality and the exhumation is amply warranted.

The Prelude, Fugue & Postlude is an arresting starter; the Prelude unique and hypnotic, with a single bass note mercilessly repeated under changing harmony (c.f. Chopin's 'raindrop' Prelude), the whole work finishing with a grand Adagio - "the poet speaks, the moral of the story", says Mitzi Meyerson in an illuminating interview. A magnum opus, 8 mins duration; a precursor of Franck's triptychs, one might think.

The suites mostly have four short movements, a prelude or allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue, with some variants. They encompass the whole range of national styles, a prelude like Froberger's, suites indistinguishable from Buxtehude's, a large suite in the French style, with Ouverture and a Chaconne to end separated by dances that could have come from a Purcell opera. The two discs are organised for listening pleasure if heard straight through, with "neighbour keys you could listen to without being shocked". Mitzi Meyerson is particularly taken with some elusive pieces which are "more descriptions of harmony as opposed to melody with accompaniment", seemingly improvisational music with a "dreamy stream-of-consciousness" feeling, but actually notated strictly.

As experienced in her London recital, Mitzi Meyerson displays an extraordinary sensitivity to the nuances possible from a fine harpsichord (a Keith Hill copy of a Taskin instrument in Edinburgh) and she explains the many things involved in achieving colour and dynamic variety from plucked strings. Sympathetically recorded at Siemensvilla, Berlin March 2003, the production is lavish, with a second booklet containing notes on Georg Böhm's life and works, and full track listing to help radio programmers! Recommended.

Concert review June 2004: - - the best of our four Lufthanza Festival events in London was the American harpsichordist, Mitzi Meyerson's recital of D'Anglebert, Couperin and Forqueray at Wallace Collection - - blissful to watch this fine performer close by, her posture relaxed, movements economical and flexible, the complex ornaments thrown off with complete ease and insouicance. This was an hour of sheer delight, which had the audience hanging onto her every phrase of Couperin, notes inégales natural and unmannered, rubato akin to a Pachmann in Chopin, with rallentandos which in other hands might seem excessive. To end, the most brilliant music was Forqueray senior's viol pieces, transcribed by his son and, to restore calm, another lovely D'Anglebert prelude. - - Mitzi Meyerson has the CD release of four Couperin suites due this summer (Glossa) and meanwhile, in this favourite genre of mine, there are the five Forqueray suites on MDG Records 605 1101-2.

Gramophone review of Böhm/Glossa GCD 921801: - - she does Böhm a great service here and reminds us why Bach justly rated him in the top division of senior contemporaries. Jonathan Freeman-Attwood