Few would disagree that Gidon Kremer is a very individual artist; certainly he is his own man. This is at least partly because of the way this Latvian artist was treated in the Soviet Union, even after (or perhaps because) he had become renowned in the West. While still a student he recorded Bach's Partitas for Solo Violin and then he recorded them again along with the Solo Sonatas in 1980 when he'd moved to the West. Now, a quarter century further along he records the Partitas, after not having played them in public for two decades. His take on these cornerstone works has changed somewhat in that he is even more decisive in his choices of tempi, dynamics and phrasing. These are in your face performances, played with utterly true intonation, demonic double stops, and complete control. There will be those who don't like these bravura interpretations but I found myself gaping again and again at the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) individuality of his playing. These are very Romantic performances and although in the accompanying documentary Kremer disavows any attempts to perform as a 'virtuoso', the playing is exceedingly virtuosic. Filmed in the gilt-laden interior of the St Nicholas Church in Lockenhaus, Austria where Kremer founded a chamber music festival years ago, the visuals are stunning, as are the sonics