Wild at Heart (2021)

The title Wild at Heart may not suggest this, but violinist Pauline Kim Harris here offers works connected to the Chaconne from Bach's Partita in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004. The proper term for the relationship is a matter that imbues the album with interest. To say that the works are "after" Bach's BWV 1004, as online sources have it, is too strong, and even "suggested" or "inspired" by would imply a closer relationship than there is. These four contemporary pieces are not "recompositions" of Bach in line with ... Read More

The title Wild at Heart may not suggest this, but violinist Pauline Kim Harris here offers works connected to the Chaconne from Bach's Partita in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004. The proper term for the relationship is a matter that imbues the album with interest. To say that the works are "after" Bach's BWV 1004, as online sources have it, is too strong, and even "suggested" or "inspired" by would imply a closer relationship than there is. These four contemporary pieces are not "recompositions" of Bach in line with various reworkings of Baroque music that have appeared. The four works were all written at different times, none for this project, but the model, however far in the background, is definitely there, even in John King's C-H-A-C-O-N-N-E, which does not make explicit reference to Bach, but one constantly thinks of how he cannot escape Bach's model. The highlight may be Annie Gosfield's Long Waves and Random Pulses, where the Bach Chaconne emerges for a moment amid textures that suggest the... Read Less