Henryk Szeryng and Helmuth Walcha perform the Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord and other works by J.S. Bach.

The six Sonatas for violin and harpsichord BWV 1014-1019 by Johann Sebastian Bach are works in trio sonata form, with the upper parts in the harpsichord and violin over a bass line supplied by the harpsichord and an optional viola da gamba. Unlike baroque sonatas for solo instrument and continuo, where the realisation of the figured bass was left to the discretion of the performer, the keyboard part in the sonatas was almost entirely specified by Bach. The works were probably mostly composed during Bach’s final years in Cöthen between 1720 and 1723 before he moved to Leipzig.

Countless are the editions of the Sonatas, from that by Yehudi Menuhin and Louis Kentner in 1951 up to that by Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout in 2018. This album contains an edition which has not been available for yeas and despite it, does not follow recent philological parameters, it offers an example of unmatched classicism for its cleanliness, strength of its performers and equilibrium in its recording. An important extra is given with the inclusion of the hard to find recordings for organ of the ’40s and ’60s by Helmuth Walcha.

Recordings: 1947/1969