AZUSA SHIMIZU

• J.S. Bach: Lute Suite

"How refreshing it is to hear [the E minor Toccata] in a new way. Azusa Shimizu does a good job of revealing the many facets of this multi-sectional work—from the improvisatory nature of the opening to the intricate counterpoint of the fugue... this is beautiful playing. The F-Minor Sinfonia is particularly haunting in the soft, even muted way in with she begins this little gem. Her ability to delineate the voices is breathtaking and her extremely soft and heartfelt way with the closing chord in F Major resonates in one’s ear for long after the piece has ended... there is some very fine playing here, one that will make a nice addition to the other Bach guitar recordings in my collection"

Scott Noriega, Fanfare - May/June 2011

"Shimizu’s sound is robust (she plays a guitar by Robert Boucher) and her playing is very straight-ahead. If you are bothered by anything the least bit fussy in your Bach, Shimizu should please you... The English church gives the sound of Shimizu’s guitar a beautiful glow... there is plenty to admire and like here..."

Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare - May/June 2011

"...[Shimizu plays with] consummate skill...[the] E major Partita goes superbly  on the guitar..."

Robert Anderson, Music & Vision - March 2011

"[There is a] sense of excitement and discovery that that she brings to this music. There is an energy and unalloyed joy that is present in every bar of these seminal Bach works... it captures every slide and pinched string to perfection, something other records 'air brush' to a certain extent—it is a very honest capturing of this artist... Shimizu strokes [The A-minor Partita] very well... Shimizu plays [the Solo Violin Partita] with confidence and rapt attention to detail... The recorded sound is excellent... Shimizu ’s way with these works is unique and well worth hearing."

Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition - March 2011

"It's not a big step from the music that Bach composed for the keyboards of his day to these guitar transcriptions of that music... Shimizu 's rendition of the Suite for Lute in E Mmjor sounds as 'classical' as it does fresh."

Arsenio Orteza, World Magazine - February 2011

"Azusa Shimizu, the Japanese guitarist of whose earlier Ponce/ Tansman recital on MSR I was so complimentary last year, has done it again, to my mind even more impressively, with this new program of Works and Transcriptions for Guitar by J S Bach. Her Bach scholarship is informed throughout by her scintillatingly precise playing. And the warmth of the tones she calls forth from her instrument makes this recital a pleasure to hear on repeated auditions."

Phil Muse, Audio Society of Atlanta - December 2010
 

J.N. Forkel, a nineteenth-century German music historian, wrote that the instrument Johann Sebastian Bach enjoyed playing the most was the clavichord. Bach believed the clavichord was the ideal instrument – not only for practice, but also for his own enjoyment. Rather than the harpsichord or the pianoforte, he felt it was the clavichord that could best play his most subtle works with their various nuances, despite its smaller sound. Bach must have created a rich musical atmosphere on the clavichord during his private time, playing between official music performances in which he played his Cantata, Passion and orchestral music. Most of Bach’s works on this disc are thought to have been composed during this private time.

As a guitarist playing Bach, one wonders where the strong desire to take on the challenge of playing Bach’s music on the guitar comes from. Perhaps it is related to the above anecdotes, in which Bach reportedly loved to play the clavichord in his free time. On the guitar, the musician expresses various nuances of the music, plucking the strings directly with their fingers. Despite its small sound, the guitar can create a more dense sound than the clavichord. Furthermore, the guitar can re-weave a rich musical tapestry through even the subtlest touch. In other words, the guitarist has the opportunity to play Bach’s music in the style the composer himself might have considered the most ideal for his music. The belief in this possibility offers the greatest encouragement to play Bach’s music on the guitar.

After studies in French literature in Tokyo, Japanese guitarist AZUSA SHIMIZU moved to Europe where she lived from 1984 to 1995. While in France, she undertook musical studies at the National Conservatory in Nice, in La Courneuve and Boulognesur-Mer, and in Copenhagen at the Royal Academy. Ms. Shimizu is a Laureate artist from the Palme d’Or in Italy, and was a participant in the Tokyo International Guitar Competition in 1991. She is an active recitalist, having made critically acclaimed appearances throughout Japan, as well as in France, Belgium, Denmark and Taiwan.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

PARTITA in A MINOR, BWV.997
I. Prelude
II. Fuga
III. Sarabande
IV. Gigue
V. Double

TOCCATA in E MINOR, BWV.914
Transcribed for guitar by Jun Hasegawa
I. [Prelude] Un poco allegro
II. Adagio
III. Fuga a 3 voci (Allegro)

SINFONIA in E MINOR, BWV.795
From Two and Three Part Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV.772-801
Transcribed for guitar by Jun Hasegawa

SUITE FOR LUTE in E MAJOR, BWV.1006a
Transcribed for guitar by Jun Hasegawa and Azusa Shimizu
I. Prelude
II. Loure
III. Gavotte en Rondeau
IV. Menuet I - Menuet II
V. Bourrée
VI. Giga

MSR Classics