Chris Thile gets Bach to where he once belonged on Bach: Sonatas & Partitas, Vol. 2.

Belatedly following 2013’s Vol. 1, the latest installment finds the Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers leader making a chamber orchestra of solo mandolin on “Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor,” “Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major” and “Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major.”

He did it, he says in a spoken addendum to the music, after his grandmother lit his classical fire and imparted an important lesson on the young Thile:

“You can play any music you like, anyway you like it.”

Thile’s chosen approach is one of one. The result is neither classical music nor casual listening. This is genre-defying music that forces the listener to pay attention and challenges the ears in the way creating it certainly challenged Thile’s mind and fingers.

So it is that not even the ambient sounds added to “Sonata No. 3,” creating the sonic impression Thile’s playing in a backyard somewhere, can mask the hard work that went into making this album.

It was worth the effort. It’s worth yours, too.