Eight Videos of Solo Compositions by Bach

The title of today’s installment in the Sunday Mornings at Ten series of videos compiled by Voices of Music (VoM) is Solo Bach. It brings together eight videos, each an instrumental solo performance of music by Johann Sebastian Bach. One of the selections was for lute, one was for recorder, three were for cello, and the remaining three were for violin. (This was not the “order of appearance.”)

Screen shot of David Tayler playing his lute, which includes naturally resonating strings

The lutenist was VoM co-director David Tayler; and his selection was BWV 999, a single-movement prelude in the key of C minor. Belgian recorder player Jan Van Hoecke played the Allemande movement from the BWV 1013 solo flute partita in A minor. The cello selections were all preludes, each taken from a different solo cello suite. Phoebe Carrai’s selection was BWV 1007 in G major, and Eva Lymenstull’s was BWV 1008 in D minor. Each performed on a four-string baroque cello. William Skeen, on the other hand, played a five-string instrument for his interpretation of BWV 1012 in D major.

The violin selections were a bit more diverse. The program began with YuEun Gemma Kim playing the opening Adagio movement of the BWV 1001 sonata in G minor. The middle of the program saw another visitor, Rachel Podger, playing the Courante movement from the BWV 1009 cello suite in C major on her violin. Augusta MacKay Lodge got to save the best for the last, so to speak. Her selection was the massive D minor Chaconne movement that concludes the BWV 1004 partita in D minor. This was the only piece that significantly exceeded five minutes in duration, clocking in somewhat short of a quarter of an hour! (It was probably also the best known offering on the program.)

Taken as a whole, the program was an engaging journey on which one could appreciate Bach’s sensitivities in composing solo music for a diversity of instruments with significantly contrasting sonorities.