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24 JS. BACH_SIX SONATAS FOR VIOLINAND PIANO BWV1014-1019
How would you define the style of the sonatas, particularly in relation to
Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin?
N.D.:
These six pieces are incredibly inventive. They respect a balance between the
two instruments. Bach wrote out all the keyboard lines in full, not offering any
scope for improvisation. The architecture and sources of the works are multiple. I
hear in themelements fromthe cantatas and influences from Italianmusic, among
others. These are six church sonatas (
sonate da chiesa
) in the Italian tradition, all
built on the same scheme. This is a major difference from the Sonatas and Partitas
for solo violin, which integrate dances in the spirit of the Baroque suite.
The Sonatas for violin and piano possess a more monolithic dimension and bypass
the spirit of dance. In fact, the solo violin works offer greater freedom to the
performer, not only because each of us is alone, confronted only with ourselves,
but also because the rhythmic variety pushes the boundaries of interpretation
back still further. The element of Italian fantasy is certainly more marked in the
Sonatas and Partitas, with a certain humour, and sometimes even derision, which
don’t exist in the works for violin and keyboard.