Biography

“Playing of phenomenal control allied to musicianship of the highest order,” declared The Times of London about violinist James Ehnes. He has performed in over thirty countries on five continents, appearing regularly in the world’s great concert halls with many of the most celebrated orchestras. His extensive discography includes over forty recordings of music from Bach to Adams. As an avid chamber musician, Ehnes tours with his string quartet, the Ehnes Quartet, and leads the winter and summer festivals of the Seattle Chamber Music Society where he is Artistic Director. His many awards and prizes include the first-ever Ivan Galamian Memorial Award and the Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2007 he became the youngest person ever elected as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada. In 2010 the Governor General of Canada appointed Ehnes a Member of the Order of Canada, in 2013 he was named an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, and in 2017 he was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Instrumentalist category. In 2016, Ehnes undertook a cross-Canada recital tour, performing in each of the country’s provinces and territories to celebrate his 40th birthday. Born in Brandon, Manitoba, Ehnes began studying his instrument at the age of four, and at thirteen had already made his professional orchestral debut with the Montreal Symphony. He plays the 1715 “Marsick” Stradivarius. 8th LMMC recital.

https://www.jamesehnes.com/

Notes

Bach’s three sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin remained misunderstood, unappreciated and on the far horizon of the repertory until Ferdinand David, concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, had them published in 1843, nearly a century after Bach’s death. Since that time, however, they have been embraced and cherished as have few other works in the violinist’s repertory. They have been published in about forty editions, more than for any other music in the standard violin repertory.

These six works all date from the period when the composer was employed as Kapellmeister and Director of Chamber Music to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. The autograph manuscript bears the date 1720 in Bach’s hand, though this indicates only the year of completion. This manuscript is notable also not only for the precision of musical notation but for its calligraphic beauty.  It is one of the best preserved examples of Bach’s musical handwriting, and a page from it is often reproduced in books, articles and on record jackets. Another interesting point about the manuscript is that the title reads not “unaccompanied sonatas and partitas” but rather “sonatas without bass,” implying that the underlying harmony that would normally be filled in by the basso continuo (keyboard and possibly an additional supporting bass instrument) has been incorporated into the violin part.

These sonatas and partitas culminate a long and well-defined tradition of German Baroque violin playing whose emphasis lay in polyphony and full, widely-spaced chords. Writing for a solo string instrument presents special challenges. Harmony can be provided through multiple stops (playing several notes simultaneously), or else by rapid alternation of notes. The exchange of different voices played on a single instrument can be accomplished only with skillful writing and highly accomplished executive abilities. And weaving its way through all this there must be a sense of rhythmic motion and melodic interest. Small wonder, then, that Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas are widely regarded as the supreme test of a violinist’s technical skill and artistic maturity.

Each of the sonatas follows the traditional Baroque sonata da chiesa (church sonata) form, with four alternating movements of slow-fast-slow-fast. A partita is essentially a suite of stylized dance pieces of varied character, all in the same key. Overall, a spirit of lightness and cheerfulness infuses the Third Partita.

Robert Markow