Bach Sonatas Partitas Enes

Summits of the violin repertory, Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin have always fascinated performers and music lovers alike for their architectural perfection, their spiritual content and the breadth of their emotional palette. It is therefore not surprising that, like so many of Bach’s works, they have been constantly arranged for other instruments. On a purely practical level, there are elements in the writing of these works that seem to suit the guitar particularly well, with its polyphony, melody, dynamics and sound colours that lend themselves particularly well to the complexity of works that seem to go beyond the solo violin.

Only one week left until the release of J. S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Zsolt Kalló. With the words of Zsolt: “As a violinist, I took on a task I had never imagined in my wildest dreams. The goal of every musician is to perform music in an inspired, stylish and pure way, yet there are so many differences between performances. This album differs from previous releases in that this celestial music is now flowing through me.”

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001–1006) in the small German town of Köthen. During this period, between 1717 and 1723, he served as the conductor of a royal ensemble comprising accomplished musicians employed by Prince Leopold, a ruler renowned for his passion for music. It is believed that the autographs of three sonatas (in G minor, A minor and C major) and the three partitas (in B minor, D minor and E major) were written by Bach in 1720 during his tenure in Köthen. However, it is also possible that he had composed them earlier, in Weimar, where he had been employed as a court concertmaster; a professional violinist in the royal orchestra from 1714. Bach titled the pieces Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato, which translates as Six Solos for Violin Without Bass Accompaniment. The title serves to blur the marked generic distinction between the groups of sonatas and partitas, as well as to emphasise the role of the solo violin in the composition, making a departure from the common Baroque practice of having the basso continuo accompaniment. It is noteworthy that the title page of the manuscript bears the note "Libro primo - Volume One," which may indicate that the six Suites for solo cello were "Libro secondo - Volume Two."

Akiko Suwanai releases Bach’s Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin on Universal Music Japan, 25 years since releasing her first disc and the first recording to be made on her ​‘Charles Reade’ Guarneri del Gesu violin, generously loaned to her by Japanese-American collector and philanthropist, Dr. Ryuji Ueno. Recorded at the White Church in Baarn in the Netherlands the album will be available for worldwide digital release on 19 January.

With two Gramophone Awards to his name and a reputation synonymous with excellence, Markku Luolajan-Mikkola is a musician who is at the top of his profession.With an established fan base built over his two decades with viol consort Phantasm, Luolajan-Mikkola makes his solo Linn debut in style,tackling what is considered the pinnacle of Bach's output for violinists: the Sonatas and Partitas.

Celebrated Baroque violinist Pavlo Beznosiuk gives a seemingly effortless performance of one of the most technically and intellectually challenging works in the solo violin repertory. Drawing on his wealth of knowledge and virtuosic prowess, Beznosiuk gives an intimate and thoughtful reading full of passion and vitality that is highly attuned to J. S. Bach's intentions.

Violinist Boris Begelman plays the "Himalayas for violinists" (Georges Enescu) on a period instrument by Louis Moitessier from the 1790s. J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin are considered by musicologists and many musicians as the pinnacle of musical achievement, arguably the composer’s most demanding and emotionally penetrating works. They undoubtedly have a kind of iconic status in the violin repertoire. Yet, little is known about the background of these fascinating works and the correlations between the music and Bach’s personal life.

Since winning the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1986, Mario Brunello has established himself as one of the foremost living cellists. An eclectic musician, for some years Brunello has also taken an interest in the world of historically informed performance practice and the rediscovery of the four-string ‘violoncello piccolo’. This instrument, slightly smaller than the cello, is known today for its presence in some sacred cantatas of Bach, but it was surely used much more widely in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries than the currently known repertory would lead us to think.This recording of the Sonate & Partite per violino solo inaugurates the collaboration on the Arcana label with a ‘Bach Brunello Series’ of three CDs, in which important compositions for the violin from his catalogue will be performed on the violoncello piccolo. The booklet includes texts by Bach scholar Peter Wollny and Italian writer Alessandro Baricco.