Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin are six of the most unusual works ever written for the instrument. They exemplify a number of contradictions. They are works of orchestral complexity – composed for completely unaccompanied violin. They are incredibly

Recorded live in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on 28 March 2026, Klaas Stok leads the NDR Vokalensemble, Concerto Köln, and tenor Sebastian Kohlhepp in a concert performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion. Composed in 1724 for Good Friday services in

Good ‘ol Bach – continuous beat, flowing tunes, and jazz? Let’s look at his influence not on his contemporaries, not on his students, but on 20th-century composers. Jazz gives us the opportunity to swing a solid beat. And that beat

The sacred cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach are among the most profound and enduring works in the Western musical canon. They serve as both spiritual mediations and virtuosic displays of Baroque craftsmanship. Many of Bach’s cantatas are prefaced by sinfonias,

In his role as the leading keyboard virtuoso of his day, J.S. Bach (1685–1750) published 4 books of keyboard music under the title of Clavier-Übung, following the precedent set by his predecessor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Johann Kuhnau had

Few composers loom larger in Western music history than Johann Sebastian Bach – and few are surrounded by as many myths. Over the centuries, Bach has been described as everything from a neglected genius labouring in obscurity to a joyless

Johann Sebastian Bach is known as a composer of precise intellectual rigour. But beneath the carefully calibrated precision of his music lies a deep current of messy sorrow. Again and again over the course of his career, Bach returned to

Today, we remember Johann Sebastian Bach as one of the most prolific composers in music history. However, a significant portion of his output – about half – has not survived. These lost works span categories including sacred and secular cantatas,