Kavakos Plays Bach: Part 1

In the first of two concerts, Leonidas Kavakos performs three works from J S Bach’s Six Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas, each one an intimate, intricate masterpiece.

The sense that Bach was challenging himself in these six pieces is palpable throughout the set. Each one exhibits the quality of striving to work through a puzzle, reaching a solution using an internal musical logic yet with a profound emotional undercurrent. Bach was so pleased with the Prelude of the Partita No 3 that he transcribed it twice, while the Sonata No 2 combines improvisatory passages with melodic brilliance, and the Third Sonata boasts a majestic fugue.

Kavakos has received widespread praise for his recordings of these works, revealing an approach to Bach’s music that is deeply sincere without being excessively reverential. ‘… a dazzling range of articulation, which makes the various dance movements really zing’ (BBC Music Magazine).