Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Michelle Makarski, Keith Jarrett
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: ECM
Catalogue: 4764582
Release: 2013
Size: 846 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Sonata for Violin & Harpsichord No. 1 in B minor, BWV1014
01. 1. Adagio
02. 2. Allegro
03. 3. Andante
04. 4. Allegro
Sonata No. 2 In A, BWV 1015
05. 1. Dolce
06. 2. Allegro
07. 3. Andante un poco
08. 4. Presto
Sonata No. 3 In E, BWV 1016
09. 1. Adagio
10. 2. Allegro
11. 3. Adagio ma non tanto
12. 4. Allegro
CD 02
Sonata for Violin & Harpsichord No. 4 in C minor, BWV1017
01. 1. Largo
02. 2. Allegro
03. 3. Adagio
04. 4. Allegro
Sonata for Violin & Harpsichord No. 5 in F minor, BWV1018
05. 1. Largo
06. 2. Allegro
07. 3. Adagio
08. 4. Vivace
Sonata No. 6 In G, BWV 1019
09 .1. Allegro
10. 2. Largo
11. 3. Allegro
12. 4. Adagio
13. 5. Allegro
Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett has recorded Bach before, on both piano and harpsichord. His interpretations are not jazz versions of Bach but are played straight. In this case you might say relatively straight, for Bach’s sonatas for violin and keyboard, BWV 1014-1019, were written for a harpsichord and are generally played that way; somehow the ear is jarred more by the piano here than in Bach’s solo keyboard music (which Jarrett has also recorded). Jarrett fans will find the evidence of his characteristic style not in rhythmic inflections toward jazz but in his way of sustaining notes, which is never excessive. As long as you agree to this rather unorthodox way of performing Bach, which 50 years ago would not have been unorthodox, you will enjoy this release. Jarrett, perhaps unsurprisingly for someone raised in the jazz tradition, is a sensitive ensemble player, and his work with violinist Michelle Makarski effectively puts the focus on her while nicely carving out a space for his own style. Too, Bach’s pieces are unusual in that they were specifically for violin and harpsichord, not for violin and continuo; they make room for the keyboardist, and Jarrett fills it expressively and lyrically. The usual ECM bonus and minus, namely excellent sound and lack of any booklet material other than bad art photography, are both present, and on balance this is an unorthodox but effective Bach chamber-music release.
Johann Sebastian Bach began work on his Six Sonatas for violin and harpsichord (BWV 1014-19) while at the courts of Weimar and Köthen and returned to the compositions over several decades, revising and polishing until the years before his death. C.P.E. Bach would later pronounce the pieces “among the best works of my dear father”. Prefiguring the classic duo sonata, violin and keyboard meet on equal terms in this music, and both are challenged by Bach’s compositional demands.
Violinist Michelle Makarski invited Keith Jarrett to join her in exploring these pieces, the two musicians – friends since Jarrett’s own compositions recording, Bridge of Light – meeting frequently over a two-year period, simply for the pleasure of playing the Sonatas.
The idea of documenting them came late in the process: in November 2010 Makarski and Jarrett recorded the sonatas at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York.
This is the great jazz pianist’s first ‘classical’ recording since his Mozart Piano Concertos discs of 1996, and only the second occasion on which he has recorded Bach on piano rather than harpsichord.
Keith Jarrett’s earlier Bach recordings on ECM include Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (Buch 1, 1987; Buch II, 1990), Goldberg Variations (1989), 3 Sonaten für Viola da Gamba und Cembalo (1991, with Kim Kashkashian), and The French Suites (1991). Michelle Makarski’s New Series recordings include the recital discs Caoine (1995, with music of Bach, Biber, Hartke, Reger and Rochberg), Elegio per un’ombra (1999, with music of Tartini, Berio, Dallapiccola, Carter and Petrassi) and To Be Sung On The Water (2004, with music of Tartini and Crockett).