Testaments to Bach

Abstract

This batch of recordings testifies to the ongoing appetite for new releases of Johann Sebastian Bach’s major works for strings. The eleven discs discussed in this review focus on Bachian works for violin, including those for solo violin, violin and harpsichord as well as the violin concertos. Testament: Complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin (Avie av2360, rec 2015, 125′) is Rachel Barton Pine’s first complete recording of the Bach solos. She previously recorded the Sonata in G minor (bwv1001) and Partita in D minor (bwv1004) as part of Solo Baroque (Cedille cdr90000 078, rec 2004, 73′)—a recording reviewed for this journal by Stephen Rose (Early Music, xxxiv/2 (2006), p.325). The earlier disc used a period-instrument setup, but for Testament she opts for her primary concert combination of a modernized Guarneri del Gesù violin with a Baroque bow. The playing is technically immaculate and successfully combines mainstream and historically informed performance sensibilities. The slow sonata movements are eloquently phrased and the HIP elements are even more pronounced in the partitas. For example, the Partita in E major (bwv1006) features metric articulation, restrained notes inégales in Menuet I, and delightful embellishments in repeated sections, particularly in the Loure and final Gigue. For those interested in the continuing influence of HIP on mainstream performance, Dorottya Fabian’s A musicology of performance: theory and method based on Bach’s solos for violin (2015) provides a detailed investigation of 40 recent recordings, including unreleased concert recordings by Pine made prior to this commercial release.