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. After his transcription for guitar of Bach’s four lute suites (BIS-2285), which BBC Music Magazine described as ‘a remarkable combination of technical ease, musical understanding and emotional directness’, Franz Halász now offers us his own arrangements of the Sonatas and Partitas – fresh performances that combine historically informed practice with modern technique. Halász appears on a number of acclaimed discs for BIS, in wide-ranging repertoire, from Spanish baroque music to the contemporary works of Takemitsu and Gubaidulina, as well as tango and Brazilian music.

Leos Cepicky graduated from the East-Bohemian Conservatoire in Pardubice in 1985 under Professor Ivan traus. He started his promising career in his early teens, when he won the first prize and Laureate title at the Jaroslav Kocian International Violin Competition.

The late Nathan Milstein’s 1973 stereo remake (of his mid-Fifties New York recordings) was his own preferred version of these pillars of the violin repertoire with which he had been so associated since his youth in Odessa. These are epic virtuoso performances justifying Milstein’s view that with this music the performer could "bask in the most glamorous light". Stylistically, purists will object to their expressive liberty and gesture. But few will be able to resist their artistry or intensity of delivery. This album won Grammy in Best Classical Instrumental Solo Recording category (1975).

First compete recording of the Sonatas, Partitas and Suites by Bach in the harpsichord transcription by Gustav Leonhardt. The transcription of these works, which were originally written for a solo string instrument (violin, cello) requires the hand of a master: Gustav Leonhardt certainly proves his deep insight of both Bach’s sound world and the possibilities of the harpsichord in these transcriptions, which feature complex counterpoint and harmonies. Bach himself transcribed many of his own works and those of others for different instruments.

Bachs Sonaten und Partiten für Violine solo umfassen sechs Werke für das Instrument ohne jede Begleitung. Der mexikanische Geiger und Komponist polnischer Abstammung, Henryk Szernyg, spielte den Zyklus gleich zweimal ein. Seine Aufnahme aus dem Jahr 1967 entstand im Théâtre Municipal in Vevey (Schweiz) unter Tonmeister Vittorio Negri. Szeryng schafft es, die Musik für sich selbst sprechen zu lassen und ihr gleichzeitig seine eigene Note zu geben.

The Sonatas for Violin and Obbligato Harpsichord BWV 1014, 1016 and 1017 by Johann Sebastian Bach, featured in this CD, belong to a group of six, which also includes Sonatas BWV 1015, 1018 and 1019. Together with the three Sonatas and the three Partitas for unaccompanied Solo Violin BWV 1001-1006 and the Sonatas for Violin and continuo BWV 1021 and 1023 (the latter of which is included in this CD), they were all composed by J. S. Bach during the period he spent in Köthen, between 1717 and 1723, when the composer was employed at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen.

Above the album worked the 'Kim Miyoung - J.S. Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo BWV 1001-1006, Violinist Kim Miyoung', and his release took place on 2020. The album has got songs with a total duration of more than an hour. A compilation is a compilation of original music.