J.S. Bach: Solo Violin Partitas and Sonatas (Hilary Hahn, violin)
Label: Decca, 2018
Reviewed: Gary Lemco 2020-04-13

Bach composed his solo violin sonatas and partitas (suites) between
1707 and 1717, at Weimar, likely using the Johann Paul von Westhoff’s
 solo works (1796) as his model. Bach “invented” no original “forms” in
music, but rather perfected models from the various centers in Europe.
These works were left unpublished until 1802, and only in 1936 did Yehudi
 Menuhin undertake the first integral recording. Himself a fine violinist, Bach 
took the traditional “Church Sonata” with for his model: four sections: a 
slow introduction followed by a fugue, a lyrical slow movement, and a fast finale.
The Sonata in G Minor begins seriously with a four-note G-minor chord, the 
two lower strings ringing freely. The melody is elaborate, weaving long lines 
between harmonic pillars. The ensuing Fugue is concise yet architecturally 
astonishing: each of the 3 sections is demarcated by repeated cadences, which 
are subsequently different in texture, figuration, and contrapuntal devices. The 
Siciliano is in the relative major. The dance is characterized by its 12/8 meter and 
a dotted-rhythm melody. The concluding Presto is a wild perpetual motion of 
single notes but with implied polyphony, causing metric instability. 


Bach’s Partita No. 1 is a Baroque dance suite that contains four dances: Allemande,
Corrente, Sarabande, and a Bourrée, the latter replacing the customary Gigue. 
Following each dance is a “Double,” essentially variations on the preceding dance 
using the same underlying harmonies. The Allemande follows established conventions 
with its quadruple meter, its moderate tempo, and an upbeat that launches the work.
 After a ceremonial opening, triplets are introduced, bringing about rhythmic diversity. 
The Double that follows unfolds in even, melodic sixteenths. The Corrente is in a jaunty
triple meter. Its Double truly expresses the “running” meaning of the word corrente,
 with its quick scalar sixteenth notes marked “presto.” Bach’s Sarabande is noble and 
in triple meter. Its song-like Double is in 9/8 meter and consists almost exclusively 
of triplets. Labeled tempo di Borea, this lively Bourrée is in duple meter and propelled 
by an upbeat quarter note. In the Double that follows, Bach dissolves the rhythm
heard previously into running notes that outline the melodic and harmonic contour.

Sonata No. 2 in A Minor opens with a Grave (solemn and slow), lyrical and highly 
ornamented. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff, in his liner notes, associates this sonata 
with a Passion cantata where tritones and sweeping gestures depict Jesus in the 
Garden of Gethsemane: “Why have I been left alone? Why is nobody to stand
by my side?” The Fugue parallels the G-minor Sonata’s fugue with a subject of exactly 
the same length; yet it is far more extensive, filled with skips, runs, and leaps, while 
contrasted by a falling chromatic line. The major-key Andante is a lyrical cantilena 
sung over a bass line of repeated notes. In the words of violinist Miriam Fried, “It is 
hard to imagine a more beautiful, melodic movement [that]expresses the most 
intimate secrets of the soul with the utmost calm and serenity.” The finale is a 
dazzling Allegro, with Italianate virtuosity employing echo-like dynamics.