I bought this album, not knowing what to expect. I have always loved Isaac Stern as a violinist of the Romantic era unsurpassed. I am also a fanatical Baroque devotee (especially Bach) and have always believed that mixing artists from one era to the other is a grievous mistake. (My favorite Romantic conductor, George Szell, recorded Handel's "Water Music," and the result sounded like the sound track for a 1930's romance movie. I could barely recognize it as the same piece recorded by J. F. Paillard and Nicholas McKeegan.) I was more than pleasantly surprised. There was a crispness and conciseness, instead of the emotion and passion that I associate with Romantic music. It may be that I was impressed because I know much less of the violin as a Baroque instrument than I do the organ and harpsichord, but it was a wonderful performance and brought the music to life for me. It may be (to my untrained ear) that I don't completely understand the violin as an instrument, but I will continue to listen to and enjoy this album (along with Nathan Milstein's DG recording of the sonati and partitas) until someone introduces and instructs me into the proper playing of baroque violin. I still think (supposing that happened) that I will still listen to this, along with the Glenn Gould recording of the "Goldberg Variations," although I prefer Richter and Walcha on the harpsichord.
