Bach: Somatas and Partitas BWV1004-6

Isabelle Faust (violin) Harmonia Mundi HMC 902059 ****

The very opening of the D minor Partita makes clear how serious Isabelle Faust is prepared to be in solo Bach. The grave manner turns out to be part of a high-contrast approach. The slower movements are rich in contemplative sobriety, the faster ones dance with lightness and spring. The obvious comparison in this repertoire is Alina Ibragimova, whose recording of Bach's complete works for solo violin appeared last year on Hyperion(Faust offers only Partitas No 2 3, and Sonata No 3). Ibragimova is the more ascetic in terms of tone and vibrato, but Faust is the more earnest of the two, and in many ways the more interpretatively conventional, too. If Ibragimova's flights of fancy are too much for you, you'll find Faust a wonderfully solid guide. See url.ie/55ay