Bach Cello Suites
Best recording? How many versions? History?
Whats the mystery? Which to buy?
Although we won’t give you all the answers, hopefully you will find information on this web site which will help you
to come up with the right conclusion for you.
Introduction.
Thank you for checking out this web site which reflects our passion and curiosity about all things related to the Bach Cello Suites for solo Cello. Each of us has outlined in our personal profiles how we came to look upon this work as possibly the greatest ever written for any instrument let alone the cello.
The big idea.
Our thoughts to develop this web site, arose from the realisation of the huge number of recordings of this work that are currently available to the home listener. Due to the many varied interpretations by dozens of virtuoso cellists both current and past, it becomes difficult to select just one version. For us, this has developed into a major piece of work fuelled by the desire, (some would say obsession) to survey as many of the recordings of this work that we can source.
The process.
We have had many discussions about the different recordings we own, regarding the different styles and interpretations. Our main concern to put it bluntly is how does the performance make us feel? One can break the impact down into constituent parts such as the musical issues of phrasing, shaping, tone, colour, speed, and technique, but we hope you would agree it is the effect on our core senses that matter.
The technical bit.
Having a keen interest in matters of music reproduction, we are also interested in the more technical side of a recording such as the dynamic range, acoustics, sound stage and proximity of the cello to the listener.
We thought it would be fun to share these conversations more widely and hope that these pages may be a starting point for anyone wanting to explore the Suites further.
Finally.
Our comments are largely appreciative. For a cellist to produce a commercial recording of the suites, they have to attain a very high standard of playing and therefore deserve our respect. Despite the impression sometimes given, nobody achieves this kind of standard without a huge amount of natural gifting and hard work much of which is toil!
The views expressed by ourselves are personal, not authoritative and hopefully, you will find our differing perspectives of each version instructive as opposed to confusing.
Much has been written about the Suites by far more learned people than ourselves but click here for our overview of the Suites.
valuing, respect, prizing, cherishing,
treasuring, admiration, regard, esteem, high opinion