The interpretations benefit from John Butt (Dunedin Consort) and Lucy Russell's combined cumulative experience gained over a lifetime of study. 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.