Stirring Stills (Bach for Viola)

Dear Mr. Bach,
You don’t know me, but I’ve known you for most of my life. I play the viola and I’m addicted to the sound of the viola and to classical music. Addicted to classical music because there are no boundaries, one’s imagination is free and and one can travel to worlds that no-one even knows exist. For a long time, it’s been my heart’s desire to record on the viola the notoriously monumental closing movement of the Second Partita you wrote for solo violin – the Chaconne. After bowing my way through thousands of miles of notes, I’ve finally worked up the courage to record the piece. It seems you wrote the Chaconne after returning home from a long and exhausting journey on foot to discover that your beloved wife had passed away in your absence. A composition of fifteen minutes in length for a single instrument, offering great solace but making huge demands on the performer. A composition full of power and mystery. 32 variations in mood, written above a bass line of four measures. An imposing achievement in composition, Mr. Bach!