Pianist Daniël van der Hoeven plays Bach with the obviousness of a heartbeat ★★★★☆

An immersion in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach: pianist Daniël van der Hoeven named his third album immersed† In addition to three charming Bach tributes, it contains music for solo violin, arranged for keyboard. Bach himself edited the Second Violin Sonata and the first part of his third. In the 1970s, David Schulenberg did just that with the first sonata and the rest of the third.

Van der Hoeven plays with the obviousness of the beat of a healthy heart. Nothing to the detriment of good violin recordings, the fast tunes under his fingers sound so even that you think you are listening to original Bach piano pieces.

The Adagio of the Second Violin Sonata is hypnotically minimalist. The structure of the fugues is clearer; not only through a second hand on a keyboard (instead of one on four strings) but also through Van der Hoeven’s precise articulation.