Bach: Sonatas & Partitas Album Review – Capuçon brings warmth, restraint and contemplation | classical music

TTo celebrate his 50th birthday, Renaud Capson recorded Bach’s sonatas and solo parts, works with which the French violinist had been familiar since childhood. These impressive accounts are elegant and thoughtful, his generous tone lit from within with enough vibrato to caress the ear while at the same time acknowledging current thinking about period performance practice.

Tempi is steady throughout, sometimes sluggish in the slow movements, but always convincing. There is generous body to his voice and restraint when it comes to decor. The phrasing is instinctive, his articulation of Bach’s fugitive elements a model of clarity, while his confident handling of the various duets and solos eschews any sense of virtuosity for the sake of virtuosity. In the powerful chaconne that ends the D minor parts, Capuçon finds a reflective lightness and intimacy that is very appealing to the ear.

When he engages in dramatics – in the staging of the First Part or in the closing aria of the Second Sonata – he digs deep into the strings, producing a more powerful sound than Bach had anticipated. However, the score and propulsion are always leavened with subtle touches in serious readings that manage to hit all the right emotional buttons.