Bach: Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Henryk Szeryng (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Henryk Szeryng
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (April 15, 1997)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000001GXY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,794 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Unaccompanied Bach" to own, December 10, 2001

By	Shara Williams (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

There are so many recordings of Bach; I choose this one by Szeryng.

No other performance or recording of the Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas for violin has pleased me more than this recording by Szeryng. The playing is effortless, the lines are intact, and every idea is presented in a compelling and developed way. This is Bach that has been eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for years.

Szeryng is not showy. The music is meticulous, detail-oriented, and contemplative. The best virtues of his playing emerge in the fugues and the chaconne, where multistopped chords have no harshness, and the technical challenges do not interfere with the musical line. The long continous section of rolled chords in the middle of the chaconne is especially well-presented. The tempo he chooses, such as in the presto movement in the G minor Sonata, is generally non-strenuous, allowing the mechanics of playing to fade behind the structure of the musical line.

This recording stands well against more recent ones; even the recording quality is comparable. While other artists have fine recordings of one or several of the movements, this recording by Szeryng distinguishes itself by presenting the entire body of works with uniform sensitivity and understanding.

87 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The standard against which all others are measured, November 4, 1999

By	Hans U. Widmaier "Uli" (Elmhurst, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Szeryng is currently, for reasons I do not comprehend, less well known than many other violinists - but he was demonstrably superior to almost all of them. He was one of the five or so greatest violinists of the century. Szeryng's Bach is in a class by itself. Nobody has Szeryg's unique combination of musical, intellectual and technical gifts that make him the perfect interpreter of the Bach solo repertiore: he has abundant strength, absolute control of the bow, perfect intonation, an uncanny sense for architecture and structure, the highest intelligence and analytic penetration, and a huge, organ-like tone. Beyond that, he loved this music more than any other. Playing Bach was always an intensely religious experience for Szeryng. That comes across in these recordings. They are not about an individual expressing his feelings or celebrating his subjectivity. They are about a great artist dedicating his entire being, talent and skills to the greater cause inherent in Bach's music. The result is overwhelming: a spectacular celebration of Bach's musical transcendence.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long time Szeryng fan, July 9, 2000

By	Dennis Nicholls (Boise, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Szeryng made two complete cycles of the Bach sonatas andpartitas: one in 1954 for Columbia records, and the one currentlydiscussed in 1968. The 1954 recording is a slightly better performance. I have the old Odyssey LP copy of the 1954 recording, and am seeking the quickly-out-of-print Sony CD version of the 1954 recording. Having said this, the DG CD version here offered is a marvelous recording, and cheap to boot. You won't regret this purchase. When Artur Rubinstein first heard Szeryng play Bach, he was reduced to tears and begged to become Szeryng's accompanist.