Bach: The Six Sonatas & Partitas for Violin Solo

If you want a good recording of that instrument playing these pieces, but don't care enough to purchase the music through a higher quality medium, then you might as well get this mp3 collection. I am unsure why some reviewers claim classical music has fallen in the past few decades. We *still* have recordings of the very best performances going back almost a century *and* we have access to extremely circumstantial performances like this. In the past, the only way to enjoy one of the best musicians play specific pieces with particularly extraordinary instruments, you had a lot of traveling to do. Now all you have to do is order the mp3 files and decide if you want a better recording. You still get to listen to an amazing violinist playing a 228 year old instrument considered one of the finest ever constructed. Honestly, I am no expert here but it seems to me that some people are flapping hot air on this review. It deserves five stars for quite a few reasons -- the fact that there is no way you can listen to this combination of circumstances and qualities anywhere else being chief among them. This instrument remained unplayed for about 70 years after the boy, for whom his wealthy father secured it, died tragically. Then it was given to her by anonymous donation and she plays it like she is playing for all the people who before owned the instrument. Sometimes you have to look beyond a typical marketing description and these nasty comments. I want to hear *that* instrument played. I want to hear it sing even after all the centuries. It contains more love and sorrow than most antiques. She knows what she is doing and I find it difficult to avoid responding to some of these "reviews". Since we are all more aptly titled "fans" or perhaps "aficionados", it might help to put ourselves in place when posting. I personally love this recording. For many reasons it not only just works but sings.

I heard all the hype, wanted to see what it was all about. Luckely, I did not have buy this album in order to assess its virtues but gleaned all I needed from the revolting iTune's excerpts. Few great artists can reveal the breadth of their vision through such short snipits, but Lara St. Johns is no great artist and manages effortlessly to betray her sovereign cluelessness with every jerk of the bow. Granted, she certainly has a Big Heart, which sits center stage when it's not featured on her sleeve. The one thing she wants to make very clear, folks, is that her life with the music of the great Cantor of Leipzig has been just one big emotional roller coaster. (Forgive me if I decline to go along for the ride!) Instead of getting insightful phrasing and meaningful variety of tone and dynamics, we get pretentious flailing about with no sense of form, style or direction. And what's with all the strange intonation and boozed-up portamento? (Otherwise, this a gem of an album, knock yourself out.) The defiantly tasteless photo that disgraces her album cover is of a piece with her performances. Didn't her mother ever tell her that good girls, like great artists, keep their legs together?

Ms St John cast these time honored jewls in the light they were intended to be heard. Seldom before has an artist been able to come to terms by combing the best of both views of how these pieces should be played. Neither a purest or modernest approach takes the lead. Everthing was recorded with a sense of balance in mind. To my knowlede the is the only recording of the sonatas and partitias that have been recorded with the tuning that Bach intended. Bravo Ms St John! Each note is played with the upmost persicion, every phase and tempo where it should be. It could be said that this is the most perfect recording ever made. We should all break our violins over our knees after hearing this recording.

Lara, you rule!!! 38 reviews – who says classical music fans don’t like compressed audio! You’re so HOT, too, I really like the shot of you leaning into the wind. Can you post some videos on your website? Man, if Julia Fischer had cover art and a website like yours, maybe her version of the Sonatas and Partitas would have more reviews on iTunes. Your playing is so provocative and unpredictable. I really like the way you change the metric value of specific notes from what’s written on the page, and how you change tempo so quickly within individual bars. Your rubato is so quirky and unpredictable, I’ve just, like, never heard anything like it before! I love how you change the style from movement to movement, sometimes mimicking authentic Baroque violinists and sometimes generating more conventional “crunchy” chords like that old guy Henryk Szeryng. I have, like, maybe 15 versions of these, but you just don’t come anywhere near the so-called classic versions by Szeryng, Grumiaux, Menuhin, Milstein, or the great budget versions by Greg Fulkerson and Benjamin Schmid, the so-called “authentic” versions by Daniel Holloway, Rachel Podger or Sigiswald Kuijken, or the recent versions by your contemporaries like Julia Fischer, Leonidas Kavikos, and Gil Shaham. Wait, Gil Shaham didn’t record these before he got axed by DG in favor of younger, marketable artists like you. Just makes me want to LOL!!!!

While I did not particularly care for her interpretation of the sonatas and partitas, that does not mean that she is a bad violinist. I have enjoyed other recordings of hers. My personal favorite for these pieces was recorded by Gregory Fulkerson and, of course, Nathan Milstein. Nonetheless, Ms. St. John has a right to put her interpretation out there. And if you enjoy it, wonderful! Bach's sonatas and partitas are often played differently and I've seen people get admitted to performance programs at major schools playing them out of tune, out of tempo and more. Play on, Lara!

I love Bach and I'm sure Lara plays well, at other times...however, these were very messy and imprecise renditions of some beautiful music. It is sad to see how Classical Music has yielded to the "PopStar" image. Try again, Lara.

Nathan Milstein. Check it out.

As an average "man on the street" classical music listener, I continue to be enthralled by Lara's interpretation of the master. Having first acquired a recording of her music when visiting the United States a few years ago, I am pleased to say that this latest performance - most frequently listened to on my iPod whilst running atop mountains down here in Africa - regularly inspires and uplifts. Well done Lara!

My appreciation for Bach came about through Lara St. John's first recording (Bach Works for Violin Solo). I am thrilled that she chose to record this 2 CD set of Bach's compositions. Her performance is focused, intense, and mind boggling. The interpretation is fresh and worthy of Bach's genius.

This cd takes a fresh look at great masterpieces. Every phrase is thought out and the results are beautiful lines that communicate with the listener's heart. Lara's unwavering energy is felt from beginning to end! I highly recommend this CD to anyone who is new to these works as well as anyone looking for an original and brilliant interpretation of the sonatas and partitas!