Quasi-biblical texts for classical violinists, J S Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (1720) are adored and played by professional and amateur musicians around the world. Less frequently explored, though no less interesting, are Six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard composed shortly after their more famous cousins (1720-1723), towards the end of Bach’s period as Kapellmeister at Köthen, and immediately before his appointment to the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

Written in Trio Sonata form, with keyboard providing not only basso continuo but also a duetting melodic line, these sonatas treat violin and keyboard as equals, and thus foreshadow the development of duo sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven, as well compositions of the romantic and modern periods by César Franck, Max Reger, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

In the three-part series ‘Bach and Beyond’, Chloë Hanslip and Danny Driver explore works by these composers and others together with a complete survey of Bach's Six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard, also adding highlights from Bach’s solo violin works in original and transcribed form. This will be Hanslip and Driver’s second exclusive series at Turner Sims, following their 2017 complete survey of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas over three concerts (recorded live for Rubicon Classics), and forms part of Turner Sims’ 50th anniversary celebrations.