Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very best Bach for solo violin
Comment: It is not easy to meet a CD that listen over and over again these days. Recently I met it. When I listen the sample on the Amazon page the sound just caught me, "What is it?" "Different!".
Szeryng is not a present player, unfortunately he passed away for years ago. I am sorry I didn't know him until now. Because he spent his later life in Mexico, or he did not get a good manager, or he did not care about it, anyway he did not seem to get fame as he deserved it.
I like Bach solo violin set, especially the first sonata and the second partita. I have listened by some famouse violinists but I wonder I could meet beyond this in my rest of life.
In this CD, I love the first sonata, the first partita. Overall, the violin sound is brilliantly wonderful. I don't know why but when listening this CD the sound impresses me before music, that is not usual, I always care music before sound.
In Japan, his playing is often referred as great nobility or dignity, and he rarely makes mistakes, someone says the performance is like even silience after playing pleases me.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Remedial Therapy
Comment: Having blown out my right shoulder, my bowing arm has retired. Therefore, my advocation as a renowned "diddle" player is over. I have switched to Mandolin, which allows me to remain in the "viol" familiarity, and accept my limitations -- but remain enganged. Bach has always been a favorite and Szeryng an inspiration. I was a bit concerned with the Duetsche Grammaphone release, as I have heard many other artistical releases of dubious quality. But this one shines. Additionally there are only a limited number of artists who have completed the catalog of Sonata's and Partitas for Solo Violin, I appreciate that Szeryng made the astonishing effort to do so, and in doing, left us his gift of Bach to enjoy through the ages.
As for my mandolin playing, it's coming along nicely, I still pull the violin out of the case and admire the instrument, and one day I may even endeavour to repair violins for the satisfaction of retaining my connection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Glenn Gould's violin counterpart
Comment: Szeryng's recording is outstanding. The main appeal of this recording for me was his ability to enunciate all the different voices of the Bach pieces. This is especially evident in his superb recording of the Chaconne. I am not surprised to see that many see this recording as close to Bach's text as possible. However, Szeryng has to do a lot of interpretation to get it to that state. If he was "only" sticking to the text, then why won't most other virtuosos follow this example? When I listen to Szeryng (this Bach recording over a thousand times), I never grow tired. It is true that when one first listens to it, it does not seem as remarkable as some other playings, but the beauty of Szeryng's playing is the purity and transcendence with which he plays Bach. Each measured, full and clear note rings with the heart-wrenching pathos evident in many of Bach's pieces.
Another advantage of Szeryng's recording is that he has pretty faithful tempo, no awkward pauses or lenghtenings for emotional effect. While this may render his playing seemingly unremarkable in the first few hearings, one quickly realizes the incredible richness and beauty. For example, if one reads Bach or plays Bach, one cannot help but imagine dramatic pauses, lengthenings, flourishes to fully convey the emotion that is in the pieces. However, when the piece is played literally to those "additions," the text is no longer pure Bach but a translated or filtered Bach. Any "emotional interpretation" of the listener is no longer based on Bach, but on that certain interpretation. Szeryng's virtuosity lies in his ability to play Bach faithfully and *beautifully, leaving the listener to appreciate and use the imagination. This, in my opinion after over a thousand listenings, is the reason why Szeryng has that lasting appeal.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
Comment: For years, I have favored the Milstein recording, which is rightly regarded as one of the finest ever interpretations of these works...however I have to say that I prefer Szeryng's Bach to Milstein's. And this is no slight at all, as I still find Milstein's interpretation fascinating and virtuosic. The problem is, I can only listen to the Milstein recordings once in a while, and yet I find myself listening to Szeryng's recording quite often. I guess I feel as though Szeryng's technical expertise and perfect control match the precision of Bach's music more closely than the Milstein reading.
A must have for any fan of this work, or Bach's other works, or music in general.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Listen to this, but only with other recordings
Comment: I'm a little surprised to see so many people declare this the best recording of the sonatas and partitas, bar none. I certainly think this is one of the important recordings to hear, along with Grumiaux, but there are others I like better.
Szeryng's articulation, phrasing, and voice-leading can be occasionally sublime -- the Adagio from the g minor sonata that opens this disc certainly is -- but it's not consistent. I don't find the d minor or C Major on this disc quite satisfactory. There's an occasional uncalled-for stridency to his playing, and the attacks in some of the passagework, in the C Major fugue for example, crunch and lack the smoothness that comes from perfect bow-arm control.
It's also slightly cold playing. I'm not a fan of the syrupy Heifetz recordings of Bach, but these are extraordinarily emotional pieces, and it sounds wrong to me to play them as from such distance.
I'd certainly also listen to the Grumiaux recordings, and maybe the partial Hillary Hahn set. I'm curious though to hear the '54 Szeryng recordings. My personal favorite remains the Perlman set, which is a combination of good and clear chord-blocking and voice-leading, a touch more warmth, and a great deal more consistency.
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