Atlanta Audio Club, March 2020

In his first essay of the complete solo sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach, Tomás Cotik approaches the daunting task with his customary verve and keeness of articulation. Cotik favors quick, lively tempi in the fast moments throughout the sonatas and partitas, and he applies them consistently in order to give his interpretations an atractive verve... it has a whirlwind intensity...Though he takes appropriately slow, deliberate tempi in such movements as the Grave of Sonata No. 2 and the very affecting Largo of Sonata No. 3, Cotik opts for remarkably quick tempi in most of the faster movements in all six works. His total time for the entire album of sonatas and partitas clocks in at a very quick 118:33 Compare this with 145:41 for Mark Kaplan (Bridge) to get an idea of just how brisk...His pacing is right on the money in the famous Chaconne in Partita No. 3, where the moment of repose that occurs just past the midpoint (5:41 in this account) never fails to raise goose bumps in this listener... In Partita No. 3, all of the musical forms following the Prelude ... were of dance origin and are given a real feeling of intimacy in this particular performance...As a final heads-up: Tomás Cotik is the sort of persistent artist who will be continually engaged with these six Himalayas of the violinist‟s art all his career. So don‟t expect these readings to be his last word on the subject!   Phil‟s Classical Reviews