Bach: Four Sonatas and a Concerto
Christ Church Cathedral
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Artists: Chloe Kim, violin and Avi Stein, keyboard
This program showcases the virtuosic brilliance of violinist Chloe Kim, named as one of Canada’s top 30 under 30 by CBC in 2020 when she was just 23 years old. An early reviewer of J.S. Bach’s now-famous music for unaccompanied violin wrote that it was “perhaps the greatest example in any art of the freedom and certainty with which a great master can move even when he is in chains.” This programme, by contrast, features music Bach wrote for the violin when he had left the chains behind. With the harmonic support of the harpsichord and added richness of the cello, Bach set his violin free in flights of lyricism and contrapuntal inventiveness. He also thrillingly renegotiated the usual terms of the chamber sonata, making the keyboard and violin newly equal partners. Dating from the composer’s years in Cöthen and Leipzig, these sonatas exemplify the full range—the witty ingenuity, the dazzling virtuosity, the quiet depth—of Bach’s musical craftsmanship.
This concert is generously supported by Ron Kruschen & Louise Akuzawa