Passacaglia (Mystery Sonata), for violin solo in G minor, C. 105
Sonata for solo violin in A minor
Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004
Rachel Barton Pine, a young violinist who has made headlines by trying to attract audiences unfamiliar with classical music, now makes a splash of a different kind: she ventures into the field of historical performance with an ambitious disc combining some of Bach's solo violin music with similar contemporary or slightly older works by other composers. Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001, opens the proceedings; Barton Pine argues in her lengthy notes (which range all the way from her girlhood experiences playing the ...
Read More
Rachel Barton Pine, a young violinist who has made headlines by trying to attract audiences unfamiliar with classical music, now makes a splash of a different kind: she ventures into the field of historical performance with an ambitious disc combining some of Bach's solo violin music with similar contemporary or slightly older works by other composers. Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001, opens the proceedings; Barton Pine argues in her lengthy notes (which range all the way from her girlhood experiences playing the violin in a Chicago church to detailed historical exegeses) that this piece most clearly shows Bach's links to the solo violin tradition in which he worked. The disc ends with the Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004, and its massive Chaconne movement. In between are works by Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656-1705), Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704), and Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755). The Biber Passacaglia that concludes his set of "Rosary" sonatas seems closest to Bach's...
Read Less