JS Bach - Sonatas for Violin and Continuo
£17.05
Usually available for despatch within 5-8 working days
Despatch Information
This despatch estimate is based on information from both our own stock and the UK supplier's stock.
If ordering multiple items, we will aim to send everything together so the longest despatch estimate will apply to the complete order.
If you would rather receive certain items more quickly, please place them on a separate order.
If any unexpected delays occur, we will keep you informed of progress via email and not allow other items on the order to be held up.
If you would prefer to receive everything together regardless of any delay, please let us know via email.
Pre-orders will be despatched as close as possible to the release date.
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Cat No: HMM902698
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Chamber
Release Date: 29th August 2025
Contents
Works
Fugue in G minor for violin and basso continuo, BWV1026Viola da gamba Sonata in G minor, BWV1029
Violin Sonata in C minor, BWV1024
Violin Sonata in E minor, BWV1023
Violin Sonata in G major, BWV1019a
Violin Sonata in G major, BWV1021
Artists
Isabelle Faust (violin)Kristin von der Goltz (cello)
Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord)
Works
Fugue in G minor for violin and basso continuo, BWV1026Viola da gamba Sonata in G minor, BWV1029
Violin Sonata in C minor, BWV1024
Violin Sonata in E minor, BWV1023
Violin Sonata in G major, BWV1019a
Violin Sonata in G major, BWV1021
Artists
Isabelle Faust (violin)Kristin von der Goltz (cello)
Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord)
About
Following on from their recording of the sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord, Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout are now joined by Kristin von der Goltz for an exploration of the wonderful pieces Bach composed for violin and continuo. They reveal to the full the elegance and poetry of these rarely recorded works.
Sound/Video
Paused
-
1Sonata in E minor, BWV 1023: 1. [no tempo indication]
-
2Sonata in E minor, BWV 1023: 2. Adagio ma non tanto
-
3Sonata in E minor, BWV 1023: 3. Allemande
-
4Sonata in E minor, BWV 1023: 4. Gigue
-
5Sonata in G major, BWV 1021: 1. Adagio
-
6Sonata in G major, BWV 1021: 2. Vivace
-
7Sonata in G major, BWV 1021: 3. Largo
-
8Sonata in G major, BWV 1021: 4. Presto
-
9Sonata in C minor, BWV 1024: 1. Adagio
-
10Sonata in C minor, BWV 1024: 2. Presto
-
11Sonata in C minor, BWV 1024: 3. Affettuoso
-
12Sonata in C minor, BWV 1024: 4. Vivace
-
13Sonata in G major for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1019a (early version): Cantabile, ma un poco Adagio
-
14Sonata in G major for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1019a (early version): Adagio
-
15Sonata in G major for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1019a (early version): Violino solo e Basso l’accompagnato
-
16Fugue in G minor, BWV 1026
-
17Sonata in G minor for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1029: 1. Vivace
-
18Sonata in G minor for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1029: 2. Adagio
-
19Sonata in G minor for violin and harpsichord, BWV 1029: 3. Allegro
Europadisc Review
Isabelle Faust is one of today’s most critically acclaimed violinists. Whether in period-instrument accounts of music from J.S. Bach, via the Viennese classics of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert to the high Romanticism of Schumann, or more modern repertoire such as Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Britten and Kurtág, her recordings have won plaudits from public and critics alike. Her Bach recordings have been particularly successful, and her 2019 double-album of the composer’s violin concertos was one of our Top Ten discs of the year. Her 2018 account of Bach’s Sonatas for violin and harpsichord with Kristian Bezuidenhout was another resounding triumph. Now she and Bezuidenhout, together with cellist Kristin von der Goltz, return with more Bach: the sonatas for violin and continuo.
These works are far less familiar than the Sonatas with obbligato harpsichord, and consist mainly of compact four-movement pieces with roots early in Bach’s career. Yet they are no less interesting for all that, particularly in the hands of experienced musicians of this quality. From the very opening, this new release oozes class: the exploratory, toccata-like opening movement of the E minor Sonata, BWV1023, draws the listener in, with the violinist indulging in virtuosic figuration over a simple yet haunting held note in the cello, and the harpsichord joining them as the temperature rises. This leads directly into a wistfully reflective Adagio ma non tanto, before two suite-like dances – an Allemande and a concluding Gigue – inject an increased sense of animation.
The following Sonata in G major, BWV1021, is mainly in the hand of Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena, and has been dated to 1732. Yet exactly the same bass line for all four movements appears in two further sonatas, BWV1022 and BWV1038, and the work’s compact dimensions suggest that its origins may go back to around 1715 during Bach’s years in Weimar. In any event, Faust and her colleagues give a thoroughly absorbing account of the music, from the warm glow of the opening Adagio, via the bracing Vivace second movement and the soulful, sighing Largo, to the lively figuration of the concluding Presto.
The C minor Sonata, BWV1024, may not even be by Bach: it was first ascribed to him only in 1867 by the great Romantic-era violinist Ferdinand David, and even the identity of the copyists of the two surviving sources remains a mystery. However, even if the composer remains in doubt, the work undoubtedly emanates from Bach’s circle. The ornamentation in the first and third movements – marked Adagio and Affettuoso respectively – is a characteristic Bachian thumbprint, while the strict two-part fugue of the Presto second movement is balanced by the finely-poised dancelike character of the Vivace fourth movement, with its distinctive punctuating unison asides and the soloist’s string-crossing lent great character here.
A bonus comes in three movements from an early version (BWV1019a) of the Sonata no.6 for violin and harpsichord, including a gorgeous, extended Cantabile, and a brief but profoundly affecting Adagio with the character of a three-part invention. The cello joins with the other two players in a closing reprise of the Sonata’s jauntily brilliant first movement. Another bonus is the self-standing Fugue in G minor, BWV1026, perhaps detached from a more extended work, and dating from the Weimar period (when it may have been intended for the violinist Johann Paul von Westhoff): it culminates in cadenza-like passages for the soloist before driving on to its grand close.
The disc closes with one of Bach’s chamber music masterpieces, the three-movement Sonata in G minor, BWV1029. This is better known in its guise as a sonata for viola da gamba and harpsichord, but the autograph parts are now lost, and it survives today only in two copies where the solo part is given – transposed up an octave – to the violin. The result is an altogether lighter, airier feel, and the violin scoring only enhances the work’s brilliant Italianate, concerto-like qualities. Faust, von der Goltz and Bezuidenhout have the full measure of this glorious music, from the robust, attention-grabbing opening Vivace, via the dreamlike central Adagio, to the urgently compelling final Allegro, seamlessly integrating virtuoso passagework within the overarching formal design. It makes a suitably imposing close to a fascinating disc.
Vividly recorded in the Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente in Haarlem, by producer Aline Blondiau and engineer Hugues Deschaux, with a well-nigh perfect balance between the instruments, and accompanied by detailed booklet notes from Bach expert Peter Wollny, this is a disc that no-one who has followed Isabelle Faust’s Bach journey should be without. The splendidly involving performances raise these oft-overlooked works to new heights of excellence.
Reviews
Isabelle Faust’s canonic versatility extends beyond repertoire towards an incisive exploration of the stylistic landscape at hand. Her recordings of the celebrated unaccompanied and duo (with obbligato harpsichord) sets for violin are testament to Faust’s deeply embedded identification with Bach on these terms. This programme of sonatas with continuo represents something of an appendix to the two main collections, if only because of the underlying sense of recreational opportunism in both Bach’s conception of each work and the performer’s assembly of them. ... throughout this programme, we are treated to Bach duo-playing of exemplary engagement and purring quality. Jonathan Freeman-AttwoodGramophone
Error on this page? Let us know here
Need more information on this product? Click here