Plucked Bach III Alon Sariel

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005 (Arr. for Archlute by Alon Sariel):
• 1 Bach: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005 (Arr. for Archlute by Alon Sariel): I. Adagio 04:05
• The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (Arr. for Tuscan Mandolin by Alon Sariel):
• 2 Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (Arr. for Tuscan Mandolin by Alon Sariel): Prelude No. 1 in C Major, BWV 846 02:07
• Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandola by Alon Sariel):
• 3 Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandola by Alon Sariel): I. Prélude 04:31
• 4 Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandola by Alon Sariel): II. Allemande 04:33
• 5 Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandola by Alon Sariel): III. Courante 03:32
• 6 Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandola by Alon Sariel): IV. Sarabande 03:50
• 7 Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandola by Alon Sariel): V. Bourrée I & Bourrée II 04:01
• 8 Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandola by Alon Sariel): VI. Gigue 03:36
• Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725 (Arr. for Bağlama by Alon Sariel):
• 9 Bach: Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725 (Arr. for Bağlama by Alon Sariel): Musette in D Major, BWV Anh. 126 01:55
• Nicola Matteis (ca. 1670 - 1737): Alia Fantasia in A Minor (Arr. for Mandolin by Alon Sariel):
• 10 Matteis: Alia Fantasia in A Minor (Arr. for Mandolin by Alon Sariel) 04:53
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandolin by Alon Sariel):
• 11 Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandolin by Alon Sariel): I. Allemande 05:15
• 12 Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandolin by Alon Sariel): II. Courante 02:57
• 13 Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandolin by Alon Sariel): III. Sarabande 03:56
• 14 Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Arr. for Tuscan Mandolin by Alon Sariel): IV. Gigue 05:02
• Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656 - 1705): Sonata No. 3 in D Minor (Arr. for Mandolin by Alon Sariel):
• 15 Westhoff: Sonata No. 3 in D Minor (Arr. for Mandolin by Alon Sariel): III. Imitatione delle campane 03:00
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Arr. for Mandolin by Alon Sariel):
• 16 Bach: Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Arr. for Mandolin by Alon Sariel): V. Chaconne 14:56
• Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010 (Arr. for Archlute by Alon Sariel):
• 17 Bach: Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010 (Arr. for Archlute by Alon Sariel): IV. Sarabande 04:18
• Total Runtime 01:16:27

Info for Plucked Bach III

With Plucked Bach III, Alon Sariel deepens his acclaimed Bach cycle, shaping a sound world marked by exceptional refinement and inward focus. This final volume enriches the series with new colours: a further relative of the lute family—the Ottoman bağlama—and a rare Tuscan-type mandola, whose octave-lower tuning lends Bach’s Third Cello Suite a dark, velvety resonance. The archlute, heard at the album’s opening and close, frames the programme with quiet elegance, while Sariel’s touch reveals Bach’s writing to be both architecturally precise and profoundly tactile.

The album unfolds as a sequence of finely balanced reflections rather than a single dramatic arc. Bach’s works—such as the Prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Musette from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena, and the Second Violin Partita with its monumental Chaconne—appear in subtly transformed light, their rhythmic pulse and harmonic gravity brought into sharp relief by the intimacy of the plucked strings. Familiar pieces from the keyboard, violin, and cello repertoire are set alongside rarer works, including those of Westhoff and Matteis, creating a listening experience that glides effortlessly between contemplation, memory, and resonance. Even in its most expansive moments, the music maintains a sense of poise, allowing space, silence, and timbre to speak with equal eloquence.

Plucked Bach III continues Alon Sariel’s collaboration with PENTATONE. Beyond the Plucked Bach trilogy, this partnership also includes Vienna Mandolin Stories (2025) and the EP Schubert’s Mandolin (2024), affirming Sariel as an exceptional artist whose work consistently reimagines the expressive possibilities of plucked instruments—and particularly of the mandolin—with rare depth and imagination.

Alon Sariel, Mandoline, Mandola, Laute, Baglama

Alon Sariel
As a mandolinist and lutenist, as well as a conductor, Alon Sariel is at home in the fields of both early and new music, having premiered dozens of works dedicated to him. He appeared at festivals such as the Salzburger Biennale for New Music and the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, and has performed in halls such as the Berliner Philharmonie and Sala São Paulo in Brazil.

Musical roads have taken Alon Sariel to many different genres from folk to avantgarde, leading him to collaborations with a bright spectrum of first-class artists such as soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, counter-tenor Andreas Scholl, trumpeter and intuitive-music artist Markus Stockhausen, violinist Jean-Christophe Spinosi, accordionist and banjo player Stian Carstensen and clarinetist David Krakauer.

A winner of numerous international competitions, prizes and awards, Alon Sariel has also been actively engaged in several socio/political-musical projects including Live Music Now (Yehudi Menuhin), Rhapsody in School (Lars Vogt) and the West-Eastern Divan (Daniel Barenboim).

As a soloist and member of different ensembles, Alon Sariel toured throughout Europe, the USA and Mexico, South America, South Africa, and the Middle- and Far-East. He has given master classes for the Classical Mandolin Society of America (CMSA) and at institutions such as Trinity College of Music (London), Lilla Akademien (Stockholm), the conservatories of Kazan (Russia) ZUŠ Nová Paka (Czech Republic) and Celaya (Mexico). Alon Sariel's playing was transmitted via radio stations worldwide, including Arte, BBC4, Bayerischer Rundfunk, WDR3, P2 Klassiskt, Kol HaMusika, WQXR and WNYC among others.

Currently residing in Hanover, where he is musical director of the international Baroque orchestra Concerto Foscari and founding member of PRISMA, with whom he was awarded the first prize at the International Biber Competition in Austria 2015. Recent engagements as soloist/conductor include ensembles as Munich Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Radio Symphony, Sofia Philharmonic, Tel Aviv Soloists, Camerata Tinta Barocca (Cape Town) and the Barokksolistene (Norway).

Among diverse recording productions with different ensembles, Alon Sariel is signed on several world premiere recordings such as the trios for plucked instruments by Paul Ben-Haim (for Albany Records) and by Yehezkel Braun (for IMI), as well as for "Nedudim" for mandolin and string orchestra by Gilad Hochman (with the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin for Neue Meister). His recording "Paisiello in Vienna" marking the 200th anniversary of the composer's passing was released by Brilliant Classics to a wide critical acclaim. Alon Sariel's last recording "Telemandolin" (Berlin Classics) was awarded the "Golden Label" by Klassiek Centraal (Belgium) and the prestigious OPUS KLASSIK (Germany). Furthermore, the album has been described by the press as „a recording of epic proportions“. (Mandolin Café, USA)

2019 saw the release of his album "Rembrandt“ (querstand) with music of the Dutch Golden Age, and "Bach in the White City“ (Sheva Collection), an homage to the Bauhaus Centenary, bridging elegantly between Weimar and Tel Aviv. Furthermore, Alon Sariel has recorded Beethoven's mandolin literature on historical instruments for the 2020 NAXOS Classics Beethoven complete works CD box set.

Booklet for Plucked Bach III