形 毛骨悚然的!Over a month ago I went to a recital that I thought would be something out of the ordinary, but little more and it turned out to be one of the most thrilling musical experiences I’ve had. It was Christian Teztlaff standing alone under a spotlight on the Orchestra Hall stage in front of a darkened hall, playing the Bach's solo Sonatas and Partitas. You could have heard a pin drop.

Many people see these works as a great monument of the violin repertoire even though they haven't been played so long - maybe for 100 years. But they've always been something to look at with awe. They're not just a demonstration of greatness or of violin playing. Yes, it's an ornamental journey through sheer beauty, but it’s more than that.
.
Naturally they have been played very differently by different players, but never had people dared to dance and to weep - until fortunately Harnoncourt, Gardiner and Norrington came along and we could discover that Bach's music is really about life and death. We can see this in all the Bach cantatas and indeed the Passions. So it's the perfect time for a violinist to play these pieces.

It’s the J.S. Bach you know, the master of the Cantatas and concertos. Yes, he's exactly the same person. But you can tell these partitas and sonatas had a very big place in his heart. And 1 think the reason he composed them for violin solo, something so unusual and different from the piano, is that it is even more intimate. The kind of "singing" Teztlaff digs out of the slow movements is closer to the heart than solo piano work. There are moments in the pieces which are so intimate that there's no room for reverence, the usual stumbling block with Bach.

Teztlaff began playing them as a full cycle 12 years or so ago, playing 1, 2, 3, then 4, 5,6 the next day, but not always with the same audience and the juxtaposition of the dark and the light was lost, so Teztlaff decided it had to be all six in one night. If you hear one you can admire it, but Bach wanted to say something very different.


What’s in my player now: Christian Tetzlaff
J. S. Bach: Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas, BWV1001 -06 Christian Tetzlaff vn Hänssler Classic® (2) CD98 250 (130' • DDD)

Superb! Supple and dextrous, Christian Tetzlaff finds plenty of grace and virtuosity in the Bach Sonatas and Partitas. There's the clean sound one often associates with period instruments (but actually he uses a modern instrument), but warmth too. There is precision, but also flexibility and passion. Name the best violinists alive, Vengarov, Hahn, Josefowitz, Mutter, Perlman, Thomas Zehetmair, Joshua Bell, technically Tetzlaff is any of their equal and lacks nothing in virtuoso excitement. These solo violin pieces sing, dance, and weep in way that’s entirely Teztlaff’s own. 形 本质.实质的;根本上的! Bach and violin fans will not want to miss this. And if you get a chance to hear him in person, go no matter what it costs, and fasten your seatbelt. If Glenn Gould had played the violin, this is how it would have sounded.