Classical home listening: solo Bach from Kavakos; a brace of Magnificats

‘Fire and grace’: Leonidas Kavakos. Photograph: Grgeor Hohenberg

• The Greek star violinist Leonidas Kavakos made his concert debut aged 17, in 1984. Only now has he made his first recording of Bach’s six solo sonatas and partitas, mighty monuments of the violin repertoire, traditionally grouped as Sei Solo (Sony). Kavakos’s sound is intense, silken, mercurial – a modern, characterful performance aware of history, playful in its ornamentation, but without exaggeration. The recording is spacious and resonant. His formidable technique makes light of the effortful cross-string chordal passages – in the Sarabande of the B minor Partita, or in the tugging, anguished opening of the vast Chaconne of the D minor (which he ends with), bringing out voices, structure, line.

There are as many ways to perform this music as there are top violinists: from Rachel Podger, matchless in her understanding of period performance, to those aristocratic players of the past – Arthur Grumiaux, Nathan Milstein. In recent months, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Tedi Papavrami and Fabio Biondi have issued sets. There’s no best here: many voices, all worth our attention, but Kavakos’s fire and grace take some beating.

• The pairing on disc of settings of the Magnificat by JS Bach and his son CPE Bach has precedent but isn’t common, and the comparisons between these two works, both in D major, make fascinating listening. Jonathan Cohen directed his group Arcangelo in these, and a third by another prominent son, JC Bach, in 2018 (Hyperion).

Champions of historical performance practice, the excellent Gaechinger Cantorey of Stuttgart and soloists, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann (Accentus), do not favour quite the same thrilling propulsion in the JS Bach setting that you might find with either of John Eliot Gardiner’s recordings. The nine-movement CPE Bach Magnificat, however, crackles with punch and purpose, the instrumental writing vigorous, the arias – such as the bass’s Fecit potentiam – virtuosic, the choruses grand, all reminding us of CPE’s genius, which might be more appreciated had he not been the son of that particular father.

• Live from Wigmore Hall: Monday’s lunchtime concert features the pianist Kathryn Stott and tenor Stuart Jackson in a multilingual recital of Gurney, Tosti and Rachmaninov. Watch Wigmore Hall’s live stream or listen on BBC Radio 3, 1pm/BBC Sounds.