Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Michelle Makarski, Keith Jarrett :: Bach: Six Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Johann Sebastian Bach began work on his six sonatas for violin and harpsichord (BWV 1014-19) while at the courts of Weimar and Kothen and returned to the compositions over several decades, revising and polishing until the years before his death.

C.P.E. Bach would later pronounce the pieces among the best works of my dear father.

Prefiguring the classic duo sonata, violin and keyboard meet on equal terms in this music, and both are challenged by Bachs compositional demands.

Violinist Michelle Makarski invited Keith Jarrett to join her in exploring these pieces, the two musicians friends since Jarretts Bridge of Light recording meeting frequently over a two year period, simply for the pleasure of playing the Sonatas. The idea of documenting them came late in the process: in November 2010 Makarski and Jarrett recorded the sonatas at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York.

This is Jarretts first classical recording since his Mozart Piano Concertos discs of 1996, and only the second occasion on which he has recorded Bach on piano rather than harpsichord.

Keith Jarretts earlier Bach recordings include Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (Buch 1, 1987; Buch II, 1990), Goldberg Variations (1989), 3 Sonaten fur Viola da Gamba und Cembalo (1991, with Kim Kashkashian), and The French Suites (1991). Michelle Makarskis New Series recordings include the recital discs Caoine (1995, with music of Bach, Biber, Hartke, Reger and Rochberg), Elegio per un ombra (1999, with music of Tartini, Dallapiccola, Berio, Carter and Petrassi) and To Be Sung On The Water (2004, with music of Tartini and Crockett).