Prize-winning Bach specialist John Butt O.B.E. and distinguished violinist Lucy Russell deliver a personal and historically informed performance on J.S. Bach: Sonatas for violin and harpsichord.

The interpretations benefit from Butt and Russell’s combined cumulative experience gained over a lifetime of study, together with an evident rapport honed during their work with Dunedin Consort.

Russell’s performance explores the colours and emotions present in the music as well as highlighting Bach’s good humour and quirkiness.

The duo relish the energetic dialogue and astonishingly diverse moods and characters present in Bach’s music: from the supremely expressive violin ‘voice’ at the opening of the first sonata to the playful rhythmic tricks in the last movement of Sonata No. 4.

Bach’s fiendishly complex fugal writing and typically delicious chromaticism is in evidence throughout these hugely enjoyable works.

Butt’s informative booklets notes highlight the historical significance of these sonatas in which Bach introduces many of the fundamental features of an essentially new genre.

Perhaps best known as director of Dunedin Consort, John Butt has won two Gramophone Awards: the ‘Baroque Vocal’ Award for Handel: Messiah and the ‘Choral’ Award for Mozart: Requiem.

Dunedin’s first instrumental release, J.S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos, saw Butt’s harpsichord solos singled out for their virtuosity and technical skill, whilst his 2014 recording of Bach’s ‘48’ received several five star reviews and ‘Choice’ accolades.

Lucy Russell is among the most distinguished of international violinists who have achieved eminence on both historical instruments and their ‘modern’ counterparts.

Russell became leader of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet in 1995 with whom she has performed all over Europe, North America, the Middle East, and South Africa.