Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
All works transcribed for the lute by J. M. Moreno

01 Chaconne-Tombeau (’Christ lag in Todesbanden’) from Partita BWV 1004

Sonata BWV 1001
02 Adagio
03 Fuga. Allegro
04 Siciliana
05 Presto

Partita BWV 1004
06 Allemande
07 Corrente
08 Sarabanda
09 Giga
10 Ciaccona

In 2001 the German label ECM released a disc under the title Morimur on which the violinist Christoph Poppen and the Hilliard Ensemble presented the findings of the musicologist Helga Thoene. She had discovered a whole series of fascinating numerical relationships in the music of Bach, especially in the sonatas and partitas for violin, shedding light on messages the composer had hidden ‘between the lines’. Three years earlier, in 1998, Glossa had already released a recording based on the identical Thoene studies. Here, the voices of Emma Kirkby and Carlos Mena recreated the choral parts of Christ lag in Todesbanden, enveloped by the magical sonority of José Miguel Moreno’s baroque lute in his exquisite transcription of the D minor Ciaccona for violin.

We have now reedited this disc within the Glossa Platinum collection. A fundamental part of the Glossa catalogue, it has been unavailable in stores for a number of years. On it, after 15 minutes of intoxicating interaction between Moreno, Kirkby and Mena, the lutenist from Madrid interprets the complete versions of the Sonata BWV 1001 and the Partita BWV 1004, both originally for violin, in an enchanting performance which has led his numerous fans, among which can be found a good part of the specialized press, to wonder when he will take on the bulk of Bach’s oeuvre...