Well, Bach does always manage to conceal one last surprise, as the booklet-notes to this disc remind us, but who can ever have expected to hear the great D minor violin Chaconne played on the lute with vocal accompaniment? I wish I knew exactly what is going on here, but since the note refers us only to an obscure German academic article which few of us are likely to read, I can tell you only that the chaconne has been overlaid with fragments of chorale melodies (Christ lag in Todesbanden for instance, or Vom Himmel hoch) to make a sort of melancholy quodlibet – a tombeau, it is claimed, for Bach’s first wife, Maria Barbara. Whatever the historical basis for this, it is certainly a nice thought, especially when one remembers that Bach only learned of Maria Barbara’s death as he re-entered his house after a trip away; seen in this light the piece becomes almost unbearably poignant. The plaintive voices of Emma Kirkby and Carlos Mena are not always at ease in their long, slow-moving lines, but this is a loving performance none the less, a strange and moving experience.
The bulk of the disc, however, contains Jose Miguel Moreno’s more straightforward transcriptions of the G minor Sonata and the D minor Partita for solo violin (giving us the Chaconne again in purer form), taking their lead from Bach’s own transcription of the E major Partita. Moreno is not the first to have done this, but Bach on the lute is a happy transferral, with the instrument combining clarity of tone with dynamic subtlety, even if it cannot always cope that well with the bigger rhetorical moments. Moreno is an elegant player with an easy touch, and while his performances are a little low-energy compared with some of today’s baroque performers, their eloquence and tranquillity are a distinct gain.'