In the period since he made his first recording of music by Bach (2009), guitarist Jason Vieaux has explored a spectrum of old and new works on CD and won a Grammy Award (in 2015 for ‘Play’, a potpourri of solo guitar pieces). But all roads evidently lead back to Bach, who receives eloquent and vibrant performances on Vieaux’s second volume of the composer’s music.

The first volume was devoted to lute pieces, while the new one focuses on violin works, including the Partita No 3 in E, BWV1006, which Bach transcribed into what became the Lute Suite No 4. Vieaux re-establishes his Bach credentials in the Preludio, shaping lines with utmost fluency, beauty of tone and rhythmic flexibility. The dance movements are enchanting episodes of motion in sound; and when the music calls for imaginative decoration, Vieaux applies subtle ornamentation.

Proceeding with the Sonata No 3 in C, BWV1005, the guitarist maintains coherence of line in the slow movements and discerning tension and release in the animated movements. In Vieaux’s hands, the titanic Fuga emerges with fresh vitality, its contrapuntal lines woven together in a masterly amalgam of timbral diversity and structural clarity. The recording concludes with an account of the Sonata No 1 in G minor, BWV1001, that is keenly alert to expressive possibility as only Bach could achieve.

The album is dedicated to Azica Records founder Bruce Egre, who died in September 2020 and who served as the sound engineer on all of Vieaux’s recordings for the label. The sound, typical of Egre’s art, places the guitar in intimate, luminous perspective.