Sonata No. 1 in G Minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1001
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Though best-known as the greatest keyboard player of his day, Johann Sebastian Bach’s first instrument was the violin, for which he composed a remarkable range of concertos, sonatas and chamber music. While his career centered upon activities as an organist and church musician, in his early thirties Bach held a position as director of music at a small princely court which focused entirely upon the production of instrumental music. It was then that most of his violin music was written, most famously the set of six Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, perhaps the most challenging music ever composed for the instrument, and a sort of “bible” for all aspiring violinists. Today Mr. Apple performs the first two (of four) movements from the First Sonata. The Adagio establishes a mood of dignified calm and majesty, with sweeping chords interspersed with flowing melodic lines, creating music of surprisingly full sonority from what might be thought to be the limited resources of a single, lone string instrument. The fugue, in which the opening figure (catching the listener’s attention with four repeated notes) is heard by itself, then several times in succession, each time enriched by other melodic lines interwoven to form a fascinating musical tapestry. While fugues are sometimes thought of as rather “intellectual” in character, Bach’s amazing range of colors and harmonies invests the music with great expressive power, irresistible momentum and drama.
for a concert by Darwyn Apple
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