On Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2, Chris Thile performs Bach's Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004; Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005; and Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006. For his second recording of Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas, 12 years after the first volume, the mandolin virtuoso opted for a more personal approach, allowing himself to take liberties with the scores, which he recorded in multiple, somewhat untraditional, locations of personal significance. “My mentor, Edgar Meyer, has shown me ... you practice Bach ... because it makes your life better," Thile says. "Because it makes the world around you seem like a better, happier place. Because communing with something that beautiful, made by a human being, continuing to be made and enjoyed by so many human beings, makes you proud to be human ... I love practicing Bach, and I wanted to try and share how that ongoing process feels and sounds to me."
Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile’s Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2 is due November 7, 2025, on Nonesuch Records. The two-LP album comprises Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004; Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005; and Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006. Nonesuch Store orders include a limited-edition print autographed by Thile while they last.
For his second recording of Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas, twelve years after the first volume, Chris Thile opted for a more personal approach to the revered master composer’s works. This time, he allowed himself to take liberties with the scores, which he recorded in multiple, somewhat untraditional, locations of personal significance: Reservoir Studios and Tompkins Square Park in New York City; Farrell Recital Hall at Murray State University in Murray, KY; and Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN. Two movements are available today—Menuets I and II from Partita No. 3 in E major and the Giga from Partita No. 2 in D minor—along with a performance video for the latter movement, directed by Matthew Edginton, which you can watch here:
Thile says in his liner note, “Volume 1, which contained the first three of the Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, came out in 2013, and though I’m still proud of it, I can hear that I spent most of its development and execution worrying about whether Bach would like it ... not the kind of concern I usually harbor when making music, original or otherwise.
“The process of becoming a person who plays Bach is extraordinarily rewarding. My mentor, Edgar Meyer, has shown me and a whole lot of us that. And we’ll always be in the middle of that process,” he continues. “You practice Bach, like you practice yoga. Because it makes your life better. Because it makes the world around you seem like a better, happier place. Because communing with something THAT beautiful, made by a human being, continuing to be made and enjoyed by so many human beings, makes you proud to be human.
“And so you practice it. As often as you can, everywhere you go. Your living room. Hotel room. Onstage before the rest of the band shows up for soundcheck. In an empty corner of an airport after a cancelled flight ... the reason this record exists is that I love practicing Bach, and I wanted to try and share how that ongoing process feels and sounds to me,” Thile concludes. “Would he like it? Though I was tempted to capitalize ‘he’ just now, I’m trying not to care. Do I like it? Yes.”
MacArthur Fellow Chris Thile is the founding member of Punch Brothers, which a Boston Globe reviewer has called “the tightest, most impressive live band I have ever seen.” The group’s six Nonesuch albums are Punch, Antifogmatic, Who’s Feeling Young Now?, The Phosphorescent Blues, the Grammy-winning All Ashore, and their 2022 tribute to the late Tony Rice, Hell on Church Street.
Thile’s other Nonesuch releases include a duo album with guitarist Michael Daves, two records with bassist Edgar Meyer (one of which won a Grammy), a Bach album with Yo-Yo Ma and Meyer, a duet album with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, and the T Bone Burnett–produced soundtrack to the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis. He was featured on Brad Mehldau’s Elliott Smith songbook album, Ride into the Sun, released in August 2025.
As a soloist, Thile has released seven previous albums—most recently Laysongs, an album featuring six original songs and three covers, all of which contextualize and banter with his ideas about spirituality. He spent his formative years as a member of the Grammy Award–winning, multi-platinum selling band Nickel Creek, which reunited in 2014 for its highest-charting album to date, A Dotted Line, on Nonesuch. Nickel Creek subsequently released Celebrants in 2023. For four years, Thile hosted public radio favorite Live from Here with Chris Thile (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion).
Thile has been performing his playfully ambitious biographical composition ATTENTION! (a narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra) around the US since 2023. It tells the true story of a young Thile meeting Carrie Fisher at a rooftop bar in San Diego, transforming that moment into a larger meditation on ambition, identity, and the art of performance. Additionally, he has been focused on the production of a new musical variety show, The Energy Curfew Music Hour. Created with Claire Coffee and featuring Punch Brothers, season one is available on Audible and all podcasting platforms.
