Album Notes

Recorded in August 2002, this spectacular 2-CD set is a celebration of Joseph Silverstein's 70th birthday.  Over the course of a distinguished career spanning half a century, he has been hailed by colleagues, critics and audiences alike as a "complete musician," with an uncommon breadth of artistic experience and selfless dedication to his art.


Bach's monumental and spiritually uplifting Sonatas and Partitas are unarguably a catalogue of violin technique, at some point testing every aspect of a violinist's playing.  Joseph Silverstein brings a uniquely brilliant yet mature vision to these timeless masterworks!

REVIEWS:

GRAMOPHONE
"Silverstein's intimate playing...serves as a gateway into a Bachian world that exists, as it should, beyond temporal form and style.  It is what musicians dream of: playing that identifies with the music so that listeners don't say, 'that's Silverstein', but instead, 'that's Bach'.  The effect is cumulative, too, so that the music sounds like one large work rather than six distinct sonatas."

SEATTLE TIMES
"At 70, Silverstein can still match bows with the best of them.  This Bach set...is classic playing in the grand style, yet it is full of intimate moments that feel deeply personal.  The wisdom of decades behind that violin has surfaced here, in Silverstein's unerring instinct for the right ornament, the right pause, and the bravura flourish where it is needed.

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE
"Joseph Silverstein's admirable new recording...reflects his interpretive maturity as well as the beautiful state of his playing...He builds his performances mainly out of well-articulated short phrases, rather than the long singing line of later Romantic style...The sound is utterly realistic within a nicely resonant acoustic."


PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
"His renditions...are deeply thought-out, carefully nuanced, rhythmically strong and phrased with the humanity of a singer (or comparable, perhaps to a grand choir, in the case of the fugal movements). They are intensely personal in the slow movements, exquisitely joyous in the dances...and grandly communicative in the great Chaconne...In all, these discs are a lasting testament to Silverstein's consummate musicianship and lifelong mastery of the instrument."