Rachel Podger has been recording and performing Bach's music for violin to critical acclaim for over two decades. In 2015 she became the tenth (and first female) recipient of the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize. On this release she leads her own ensemble, Brecon Baroque, in JS Bach's monumental Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). Bach's The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, broken off at the end by the composer's death, was written out in open score, with no indication of instrumentation. This has given rise over the years to a variety of instrumental realizations, with keyboard performances being the most common, but string orchestra, or wind versions, and so forth, are also often essayed.

After the volumes dedicated to Vivaldi's great instrumental cycles, La Stravaganza (2004), La Cetra (2012) and L’Estro armonico (2015), English violinist Rachel Podger continues her work with her Brecon Baroque ensemble to bring out this version of the Four Seasons, which is rounded off with three violin concertos. A passionate fan of the music of Vivaldi and Biber, Rachel Podger, who studied in Germany, demonstrates through her performances just how much the Red Priest's music (and her herself, following Biber) can cloak itself in the mysterious and bizarre, to the point that Vivaldi appears here as a distant descendant of the mannerists from the late Renaissance and early Baroque period. This is a particularly interesting and successful take.

Rachel Podger has been recording and performing Bach's music for violin to critical acclaim for over two decades. In 2015 she became the tenth (and first female) recipient of the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize. On this release she leads her own ensemble, Brecon Baroque, in Bach's monumental Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). The recording is presented in Channel Classics's signature stunning DSD sound.

Rachel Podger has been recording and performing Bach's music for violin to critical acclaim for over two decades. In 2015 she became the tenth (and first female) recipient of the Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize. On this release she leads her own ensemble, Brecon Baroque, in Bach's monumental Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). The recording is presented in Channel Classics's signature stunning DSD sound.

These are splendid works. The combination of violin and viola is a remarkably sonorous one, and Michael Haydn's two duos are masterpieces no less accomplished than Mozart's. The team of Podger and Rogers is very well matched in terms of timbre, phrasing, and interplay between melody and accompaniment. They communicate the joy of the allegros vividly and with great spirit.