Bach Sonatas Partitas Enes

That said, Anner Bylsma's disc gets a great deal more playing time. The timbre of the piccolo cello is ideally matched with the organ. While purists may balk at such unusual instrumentation, I cannot help but think such an experiment is quite in keeping with the spirit of Baroque era practices. In general, I try not to judge the success of a recording by a preconceived idea of what a musical elite would or would not approve of.

The violin was one of Bach’s favourite instruments and inspired his most lyrical outpourings. We know he was greatly influenced by the Italian masters whose work he discovered during his Weimar years – by the power of Frescobaldi, the melodic flexibility of Corelli, the sunny grace of Vivaldi – but he developed his own wonderful artistry in writing music of polyphonic density for the violin and “playing” with its sound palette. His deep understanding of the instrument clearly enabled him to exploit its full potential and to write as well as perform music of the utmost virtuosity.

Another reason to take a look into the Glossa Cabinet series comes with the reappearance of Marcello Gatti’s delightful interpretation of transverse flute Sonatas by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (son number 9 of JS), who worked in the courtly surroundings of Bückeburg in central Germany in the last part of the 18th century. These sonatas were composed around the time of JCF’s visit to see his brother Johann Christian in London in 1778 and combine the Italian galante style with the sensitivity of the Empfindsamer Stil. Elegantly performed by Gatti and Giovanni Togni, fortepiano, with cellist Giovanna Barbati joining for a Trio in D major (from the middle of the 1780s), the recording was captured in sound by Sigrid Lee and Roberto Meo.

Rachel Podger's growing reputation among early-music enthusiasts is buttressed by this set of Bach's sonatas for violin and continuo. Her intonation is always on target, her tone sweet but not cloying. While she shares the understated interpretive stance of so many historically informed performers, she allows the emotions to shine through in, for example, the opening Largo of Sonata No. 5. And where the dancelike elements are to the fore, as in the Allegro of No. 6, she shows she can swing with the best.

Melodiya presents an unusual interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord. Written during the Cöthen period (1717-23), the sonatas, along with the solo suites for cello, violin and harpsichord, are the highest chamber instrumental accomplishments of the great German master. Today they belong to the golden repertoire of cello music, although at times they are played on other stringed instruments.

This is quite simply magnificent violin-playing, the sort that while you’re listening to it convinces you that the music couldn’t possibly be played any other way. You soon realize just how far she’s come since her teenage years, the tempo marginally more mobile and the variety of nuance and tone on offer so much wider than it had been.

The intelligence, sensitivity, and innate musicality distinguishing violinist James Ehnes' terrific unaccompanied Bach carries over to his first volume of the composer's sonatas with harpsichord. What immediately strikes you is the ideal balance between Ehnes and harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour–not just sonically speaking, but in how they effortlessly proportion their phrases and perfectly synchronize trills, turns, and other ornaments. Beauséjour's discreet and effective registrations complement the subtle variations in Ehnes' tone, especially in slower, sustained writing (the quicker-than-usual A major sonata's Andante is a good example).

Situated at the epicentre of the Enlightenment era, Bach’s second son was the key figure of Empfindsamkeit (Sensibility), the movement that explored the deep and unfathomable stirrings of humanity and nature, countering the learned style of the early eighteenth-century masters with freedom of inspiration and hence emancipation of form.

Melodiya presents recordings by Alexander Korneyev, (1930-2010) was an outstanding flutist, People's Artist of the RSFSR and laureate of the State Prize of Russia. A world famous soloist, Korneyev won recognition primarily as a concert musician. He has performed with well-known Russian musicians such as Lev Oborin, Ivan Kozlovsky, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Mstislav Rostropovich and the Beethoven Quartet.

Even in a field overcrowded with noteworthy editions of the Bach Sonatas for violin and harpsichord, these 1995 recordings maintain permanent status on my shelves. Fabio Biondi's fiddling is thoroughly steeped in the grammar of period performance yet avoids the exaggerated agogics, metronomic facelessness, and wimpy tonal qualities we often put up with in the name of authenticity. Abetted by Rinaldo Alessandrini's imaginative partnering, Biondi's characterful, singing sonority puts a fresh spin on every phrase. His improvised embellishments, no matter how audacious they sound at first, always arise out of an organic response to the music's spirit.