Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Ning Feng
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Channel
Catalogue: CCS39018
Release: 2018
Size: 4.35 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Sonata for solo violin No. 1 in G minor, BWV1001
01. I. Adagio
02. II. Fuga
03. III. Siciliana
04. IV. Presto
Partita for solo violin No. 1 in B minor, BWV1002
05. I. Allemanda
06. II. Double
07. III. Corrente
08. IV. Double Presto
09. V. Sarabande
10. VI. Double
11. VII. Tempo di Borea
12. VIII. Double
Sonata for solo violin No. 2 in A minor, BWV1003
13. I. Grave
14. II. Fuga
15. III. Andante
16. IV. Allegro
CD 02
Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV1004
01. I. Allemanda
02. II. Corrente
03. III. Sarabanda
04. IV. Giga
05. V. Ciaccona
Sonata for solo violin No. 3 in C major, BWV1005
06. I. Adagio
07. II. Fuga
08. III. Largo
09. IV. Allegro Assai
Partita for solo violin No. 3 in E major, BWV1006
10. I. Preludio
11. II. Loure
12. III. Gavotte en Rondeau
13. IV. Menuet I
14. V. Menuet II
15. VI. Bourée
16. VII. Gigue
It is highly debatable whether Grillparzer (a contemporary of Beethoven and Schubert) knew Bach’s six works for violin solo. Nevertheless he manages in this poem, without actually intending to do so, to go right to their core. It seems as if Bach demands the extremes from the violin, even more than it is capable of.
Was there any violinist during Bach’s lifetime capable of playing them? Maybe Pisendel, the leading German violinist of his time? Or had he intended his solo works for none other than himself? We still aren’t sure, but what is for sure is that Ning Feng would have impressed Bach with his reading of the complicated chords and figurations.
Established at the highest level in China, Feng performs regularly with major international and local orchestras, in recital and with the Dragon Quartet which he founded in 2012. Now based in Berlin and enjoying a global career, Ning Feng has developed a reputation internationally as an artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment.
Played on a 1721 Stradivari violin, known as the ‘MacMillan’