Johann Sebastian Bach - Partita for solo violin No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006. 1720. Hilary Hahn, Violin, 1997. Chaconne, Partita Nº 2, BWV 1004 http://youtu.be/QqA3qQMKueA Violin Partita Nº 2, BWV 1004 http://youtu.be/6KaYzgofHjc Violin Sonata Nº 3, BWV 1005 http://youtu.be/Lej1nHZBMgc Parts/Movements 1. Preludio 00:00 2. Loure 03:34 3. Gavotte en rondeau 08:23 4. Menuet 1 11:39 5. Menuet 2 13:31 6. Bourrée 16:35 7. Gigue 18:14 In 1999, Hahn said that she played Bach more than any other composer and that she had played solo Bach pieces every day since she was eight. "Bach is, for me, the touchstone that keeps my playing honest. Keeping the intonation pure in double stops, bringing out the various voices where the phrasing requires it, crossing the strings so that there are not inadvertent accents, presenting the structure in such a way that it's clear to the listener without being pedantic -- one can't fake things in Bach, and if one gets all of them to work, the music sings in the most wonderful way." — Hilary Hahn, Saint Paul Sunday In a segment on NPR entitled "Musicians in Their Own Words", Hahn speaks about the surreal experience of playing the Bach Chaconne (listen here: http://youtu.be/QqA3qQMKueA from the Partita for Violin No. 2) alone on the concert stage. (The complete Partita here: http://youtu.be/6KaYzgofHjc) Although J.S. Bach described his six sonatas and partitas for solo violin as Libro primo (Book 1), he never followed them up with a second volume; so the Partita for solo violin No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006 (Cöthen, 1720), stands as the composer's last utterance in the unlikely medium of the unaccompanied violin. There were some solo violin works that predate Bach's efforts -- Biber's Passacaglia, Westhoff's Six Partitas -- but they cannot compare. This Partita is perhaps the most exuberant and cheery of the three in the book; while it is no picnic in the park for the violinist, it offers easier going than the chaconne in the second partita with its strings of double and triple stops. The work consists of dance movements that are mostly French in origin and that diverge from those in the other two : Preludio, Loure, Gavotte en Rondeau, Menuet I and II, Bourrée, and Gigue. The Preludio, which was adapted by Bach for use in two of his cantatas, proceeds almost entirely in brilliant sixteenth notes. A Loure is a slow subspecies of French jig, usually (as is the case here) in 6/4 time; Bach's is perhaps a less heavy dance than the average loure. The Gavotte is, as the name suggests, set up as a kind of rondo, with restatements of the opening material surrounding contrasting episodes; the happy gavotte tune is played five times in all (six if one counts the repeat of the opening eight bars). The two Menuets are traditionally played da capo with the end result: Menuet I -- Menuet II -- Menuet I. The Bourrée is short and rapid. A gigue can be either French in style or Italian; Bach selects the quicker, snappier Italian variety to close the E major Partita.