This latest two-disc recording of the monumental Bach Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas sets new standards. Performing on an 18th-century violin and with a Baroque bow, and playing from a facsimile of Bach’s autograph manuscript, the German violinist Christine Busch brings wide experience as a chamber and period-orchestra player as well as formidable technical and interpretative skills to these iconic works.

What is so engaging is her ‘ensemble approach’ to the music: Busch illustrates Bach’s textures with her bow by subtly differentiating articulations of melody, accompaniment and inner voices. The result is nothing less than a fresh concept of how to convey textural clarity. Exquisitely shaped melodies sing while accompaniments, often off-the-string with chords slightly drier in tone than one usually hears, provide pace, punctuation and harmonic drive (listen, for example, to the Allemande of the D minor Partita). The contrapuntal movements, particularly the fugas, benefit from the translucent but firm tone quality she produces. Elsewhere, Busch delights us by conjuring the hushed quality of a private conversation in the Andante of the A minor Sonata. Because this is Bach, one can only hint, here, at the kaleidoscopic implications evident in these visionary performances.

Busch speaks directly through her instrument with a warmth and intelligence that engages and disarms. Technique always serves the musical interpretation. Her intonation is spot-on, tempi are elegant, even relaxed. At ease in the Baroque style, she judges her ornamentation beautifully. The sequences and arpeggios in the quick movements cascade seemingly effortlessly. Echoes are suggested rather than overt; ends of phrases and final notes often seem, deliciously, to melt away. All of these qualities – and more – are contained in her poised interpretation of the D minor Ciaccona of Partita No 2: what may be for some an epic, Himalayan trek is for Busch a view from Parnassus itself. Young violinists take note: she teaches at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart.