My companion through yesterday’s storm-induced commuter turmoil was Boston violinist Daniel Stepner‘s amazing journey through the solo-violin works of J.S. Bach. My tension and anxiety mixed with his high-voltage playing on three period violins to produce an emotional stew I won’t soon forget.
This album reveals but one small facet of a complex and diverse artist whose tastes run from Bach to new music.
There are two tangential Toronto connections in all of this: One of Stepner’s teachers was Steven Staryk, who has recently benefited from a huge re-release of recordings by the Web-challenged Centaur label; and Tafelmusik’s Aisslinn Nosky is his successor as concertmaster of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society.
A few months ago, Nosky released her solo début album, which included spellbinding Bach. But Stepner’s work is in a category of its own.
Partita No. 2 (BWV 1004) straddles the CDs so that the famous Chaconne opens the second disc. I had to listen three times to fully grasp that five fingers and one bow were actually capable of producing the result.
I also would not have guessed on first listen that what I was listening to was being played on period instruments. Stepner’s tone is razor-sharp and ringing, his runs and ornaments rock solid.
My one complaint is that, at times, Stepner is too insistent on pushing the dynamic envelope of his gut-stringed violins, with a sound bordering on harsh. This is Baroque music with a thoroughly Modern soul — not to my taste, but Stepner’s interpretations are so adept and so committed that they deserve a deep, reverential bow of respect.
You can find the album on iTunes here.
Stepner was in the spotlight in Boston last month when he got to play on one of Mozart’s violins. Here he is with violist Anne Black at the studios of WGBH in Boston:
John Terauds