Listened to the second CD of Julia Fischer's complete journey through the Bach unaccompanied works, and this confirmed my view from the first CD. Interesting to read Rob Cowan compare Fischer's recordings with those of Johanna Martzy of fifty years ago; I must confess, the same parallel had also occurred to me. Beautiful playing, immaculate musicianship, superb control, lovely sound.
Like the Bach recordings of Heifetz, Fischer's can be enjoyed as a example of superb violin playing but, like the Bach recordings of Heifetz, Bach seems to come second. In the faster movements, and in the dance movements, Fischer is excellent. But show her a marking of andante, adagio or sarabande, and she stamps on the brakes and engages first gear. And since she also takes every single repeat, life can go on for rather a long time in the slow pieces (the opening Allemande from the first suite, for example, wanders on for six and a half minutes. Kavakos, whose recording I really like, takes just under five minutes -- exactly the same as Heifetz. Batiashvili takes five minutes). The Chaconne is an exemplary example of great violin playing, but it lacks structure and is far too episodic. For a true archicture in the Chaconne, we have to go back to Heifetz and Milstein.
But, to end on a positive note, her playing of the Preludium to the third suite is really stunning and interesting.