Dear Mr. Bach,
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 limits, your imagination is as free as a bird.
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 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.
I actually really like the fact that there are so few indications on the music, as this lets your music generate its own impulsive response at the point when you start to play it.
I embarked on my confrontation with your mystery over there, in that little chapel looking out over the Pyrenees, and I tried to record what I felt at that exact point in terms of timing, vibrato and bowing. Your notes were the only markers I had to keep myself on course. Your music has its own heartbeat, and it can speed up or slow down all of a sudden. You take some time between the notes, or perhaps sometimes you don’t. This freedom is a complex thing. If everything is good, then nothing is wrong. This is exactly why it’s such a delicate piece to record.
But I went on and did it – I recorded your notes – all on my own in that little chapel. And without even a recording technician. This meant I could record whenever I wanted to, even in the middle of the night. To me, this was the only way to reach the essence of how I wanted to record your music. With complete freedom.
Esther Apituley

Composities voor viool en cello sprankelend gebracht op de altviool
Dit album van de uitbundige altvioliste Esther Apituley, is geheel gewijd aan de transcripties van Bach's solowerken voor cello en viool. De focus en de climax van dit album is de gedurfde versie van de Chaconne voor altviool. Apitley nam het album geheel in haar eentje op in een kapelletje in Spanje. Het zorgde ervoor dat ze helemaal zelf kon bepalen hoe en wanneer ze de muziek opnam, mét uitzicht op de Pyreneeën.

De Concertzender riep dit album uit tot het beste Bach album van 2016: “Origineel, innoverend, haar spel is erg mooi diep warm en ontroerend. Het album combineert originaliteit, durf en grote muzikaliteit.”
En: "Per jaar worden er zo'n 40 Bach albums uitgebracht in de Benelux. Eén album sprong eruit qua originaliteit: Stirring Stills van Esther Apituley. Zij speelt daarop solostukken voor viool en cello op de altviool. Het effect is opmerkelijk mooi. Het roept zelfs de vraag op waarom Bach die zowel klavecimbel als cello voor het eerst als soloinstrumenten inzette niet voor alt heeft gecomponeerd. Hij bespeelde het instrument soms ook zelf. Wat verder opvalt aan dit album is de prachtige programma-opbouw waardoor deze solowerken van Bach als een veelkleurige Chinese waaier worden opengevouwen'


Dear Mr. Bach,
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 limits, your imagination is as free as a bird.
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 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.
I actually really like the fact that there are so few indications on the music, as this lets your music generate its own impulsive response at the point when you start to play it.
I embarked on my confrontation with your mystery over there, in that little chapel looking out over the Pyrenees, and I tried to record what I felt at that exact point in terms of timing, vibrato and bowing. Your notes were the only markers I had to keep myself on course. Your music has its own heartbeat, and it can speed up or slow down all of a sudden. You take some time between the notes, or perhaps sometimes you don’t. This freedom is a complex thing. If everything is good, then nothing is wrong. This is exactly why it’s such a delicate piece to record.
But I went on and did it – I recorded your notes – all on my own in that little chapel. And without even a recording technician. This meant I could record whenever I wanted to, even in the middle of the night. To me, this was the only way to reach the essence of how I wanted to record your music. With complete freedom.
Esther Apituley

Esther Apituley legt mit 'Bach for viola' ihre dritte Einspielung für Challenge Classics vor. Diesmal widmet sie sich Transkriptionen von Bachs Kompositionen für Violine und Cello solo, die hier in einer kühnen Version der Chaconne gipfeln. Schon lange hegte Apituley den Wunsch die Chanconne der Partita Nr. 2 für Violine solo mit ihrem Instrument, der Viola, zu spielen und spielte sich durch verschiedenste Transkriptionen, bis sie ihren Weg der Interpretation dieses Satzes gefunden hatte.

In einem persönlichen Brief an Bach schreibt Apituley im Booklet: 'Es scheint als hättest du die Chaconne komponiert, nachdem du von einem anstrengenden Fußmarsch nach Hause zurückgekehrt bist, um herauszufinden, dass deine geliebte FRau gestorben ist. Eine Komposition von 15 Minuten Länge für ein Soloinstrument, die Trost spendet und dabei dem Musiker viel abverlangt. Eine Komposition voll Kraft und Geheimnissen.'