On this record, Renaud Capuçon and David Fray decided to turn their back on the musicology-inspired understanding of baroque music. Enough of “the dictatorship of the historically informed.” They chose instead to play this music from the heart, just as the masters did in the previous century. Their choice is sincere in a field of numerous conflicts between schools of thoughts. Six sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord was composed by Bach when he was at the court of Coethen. It was especially admired by Carl Philipp Emanuel, the Cantor’s second son. As often happens, however, the autographed manuscript has disappeared and it is through series of copies that we know it today. It was published for the first time in 1804, fifty years after Bach’s death. The six sonatas are written according to Corelli’s rules. They imagine a new type of dialogue in the chamber orchestra where keys are not in the background. The writing is precise, expressive, and rhythmical. © François Hudry/Qobuz