Most of Johann Sebastian Bach’s chamber music was written in the period
1717-1723, when he was employed as Kappellmeister at the court of
Cöthen. Bach wrote six violin sonatas, with the E major sonata standing
apart from its companions, as Misha Donat notes in the CD booklet. “Of
the two Adagios, the first, with its elaborate violin cantilena, is like
the slow movement of a concerto…In the hauntingly beautiful c-sharp
minor second slow movement, the melody is shared equally between the two
players, at first alternating and then proceeding in contrapuntal
dialogue.” The second allegro, meanwhile, is a “dazzling display piece
unfolding in a vertiginous stream of semiquavers.”
No other 20th century composer was as deeply steeped in the music of
Bach as Ferruccio Busoni, and his second sonata, composed in 1898 and
published in 1901, is indebted to both Bach and Beethoven. Its form
makes a number of references to Beethoven’s late sonatas, and the final
movement incorporates as its variation theme Bach’s chorale “Wie wohl
ist mir”. The success of the work marked a turning point for Busoni, who
had hitherto invested most of his energies into his life as performer.
“Repeated performances of my violin sonata have greatly encouraged me,”
he wrote in 1902. “From next autumn I seriously intend to work just as
hard as a composer as I have up to now as a pianist.”
Ludwig van Beethoven’s G-major Sonata, written in 1812 for French
violinist Pierre Rode, was the last of his violin sonatas, and perhaps
the most beautiful and original of them. Misha Donat; “The sonata begins
with one of Beethoven’s most magical inspirations: the quiet sound of a
violin trill. The trill, and the theme it engenders, is followed by a
series of arching arpeggios whose expansiveness seems to open up
infinite vistas.” (ECM Records)
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