The three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, BWV 1027-29 are another unique testament to the genius of J.S. Bach. Although they are clearly a group, they are very different in style: the G major Sonata is a transcription of an earlier Trio Sonata, and the G minor Sonata is reminiscent of the Brandenburg Concertos. The D major Sonata was apparently written as a response to son C.P.E. Bach, who accused his father of being old-fashioned and refusing to embrace the new “Galant” style. So Papa Bach wrote this sonata in the “Galant” style but almost as a kind of joke, because beneath the overlay of “Galant” he used very traditional counterpoint and old-fashioned fugues. In addition, while appearing to embrace this modern style, he chose to write for the viola da gamba, an instrument that at the time was losing popularity, and he demanded unheard-of virtuosity from the performer. I would love to have been a fly on the wall at the first performance. How wonderful the humor, perversity and sheer mastery of Bach! Would it have perplexed? confused? or simply delighted audiences? With this as the genesis of these works, I cannot help but feel like I am continuing the joke by performing them on the double bass in the extreme highest register. I hope that the master would have approved. I began playing them as an experiment to see if it was possible and ended up in love with the sound of the bass playing the notes in the octave that Bach wrote them. I use a normal-sized bass with a normal string length, tuned with a high C string, which helps with the octave, but I still find myself spending most of my time above the first harmonic and lots of time up at the end of the fingerboard. It is startling when Bach suddenly dips into the normal bass tessitura for moments in the Vivace of the third sonata, but for the most part it is written in the highest octave. It might look a little silly to see me perform these with my hands reaching constantly for the highest notes, but I hope that the listener will agree that the purity of the bass sound is appropriate for this music and mixes well with that of the harpsichord. It lies somewhere between a gamba sound and a cello sound. My fabulous partner, Dan Sedgwick, and I spent countless hours looking deeply into these works, trying to illuminate the intentions of that genius of all geniuses, Johann Sebastian Bach. I expect most listeners will be surprised and I hope pleased by the result. All proceeds from the sale of this CD support my outreach music programs through Bach With Verse, bringing live music to warn-torn regions and prisons throughout the world. Richard “Dobbs” Hartshorne, double bass