J. S. Bach -- Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin

J. S. Bach -- Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin

Track Listings
Disc: 1

1. Grave

2. Fuga

3. Andante

4. Allegro

5. Allemande-Double

6. Corrente-Double

7. Sarabande-Double

8. Tempo di Borea-Double

9. Adagio

10. Fuga

See all 12 tracks on this disc
Disc: 2

1. Allemande

2. Corrente

3. Sarabanda

4. Giga

5. Ciaccona

6. Adagio

7. Fuga

8. Siciliano

9. Presto

10. Preludio

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews
Joseph Magil, American Record Guide, May/June 2002
"One of the most intelligent sets of the Sonatas and Partitas that I have heard."

Fanfare Magazine, August 2002
"This is a very well-played, fluent, and thoughtfully communicative version of music Lansdale obviously knows intimately."

Album Description
Bach' six masterpieces for solo violin were written from 1717-20, while he was Kappelmeister for Prince Leopold of Cothen. During this time Bach produced an abundance of instrumental music: the six Brandenburg Concerti, the six Cello Suites, the six Violin-Piano Sonatas, and the 24 Preludes and Fugues of the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. The solo violin works, in particular, constitute a mammouth achievement and breakthrough in writing for the violin, creating tapestries of multiple voices for one-bowed instrument, enabling it to ascend extraordinary heights. In addition to the polyphonic architectures, dance movements abound, celebrating traditions of the French, Italian, and German Baroque. In our own era, treatment of both polyphony and of dance textures has ranged dramatically: from broad, sweeping, Romantic, modern approaches to the fleet and more translucent renderings by current early music experts. This much-needed recording by Cyberphunx Music features an unprecedented welding of the two approaches. Performing on a 1755 Gabrielli violin (from Bach's time), Katie Lansdale combines modern bow and contemporary violin technique with earlier sylistic traditions, to breathtaking effect. "Lansdale's result is magical," wrote one reviewer, and American Record Guide summed up its rave review with the pronouncement: "This is one of the best recordings out there of this music."