Bach: Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Bach
Jeremy Eichler wrote in the New York Times: "In 1980, [violinist Gidon Kremer] recorded all six sonatas and partitas for Philips in an explosive set that became the best introduction to his blend of peerless technique and wild interpretative imagination. The intervening decades have not tamed Mr. Kremer, but they have brought him full circle, back to this sad and noble music by Bach. In interviews and in disarmingly personal booklet notes, Mr. Kremer has discussed this new recording as a kind of existential travelogue, a wandering musician's 'last confession.' It is a superb account, bursting at once with piety toward the spirit of the music and sheer irreverence toward its execution. At the center is Mr. Kremer's umistakable approach to tone production: raw, molten fortes are pulled from deep inside the strings, ghostly pianos are floated with lightning-quick bow speed. On the whole, tempos are fast, and Mr. Kremer's approach to Bach's thick chords is more compact and vertical. The chaconne is choppier, less heroic. The C major Adagio leans more heavily on the passing dissonances. Like the earlier set, this one bristles with fresh ideas."