Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Concerto for Two Violins, Strings and Continuo in D minor — better known as Bach’s Double Concerto — has been recorded by many duos of great violinists.
But a new recording by Anne Akiko Meyers called AIR: The Bach Album offers something different: She plays both solo parts, one on each of her two prized Stradivarius violins. One is the “Molitor” Stradivarius from 1697, which is thought to have been owned by Napoleon and which she bought at auction two years ago for a then-record $3.6 million. The other is the “Royal Spanish” Strad, dating from 1730, which was once owned by the king of Spain.
Meyers calls the Double Concerto “one of the most fascinating compositions,” and says that many people were curious to hear how two violins that, as she says, “suddenly came into” her possession would sound together. So she recorded one solo part in London with the English Chamber Orchestra, and the other in New York with headphones several months later, listening to her first recording as she played.
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