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Bach Cello Suites

I was given Marc Coppey's recording on the Aeon label as my introduction to this work. I don't think I've seen any reviews of it and nor does it seem to get mentioned in discussions like this. I'm not a musician so I can't give you an informed critique but it sounds fine to me. Does anyone else know this version? I've since added Paul Tortelier's set, which I chose after listening to a few alternatives on Spotify.
 
Thanks for raising this. It had passed me by on release so I’ve just remedied that.

Very nice, thanks. Intimate and ‘in the chapel’ was how I just described it to a pal who is similarly interested.
 
I had been enjoying the David Watkins for a while when I heard a quite diffent version I was fairly sure I had never heard: Peter Wispelwey. I found playing this alongside the Watkins to be quite inciteful.
 
I have had a lot of pleasure from the set by Jean-Guihen Queyras on Harmonia Mundi. It's a nice complement to the (unmissable, in my view) Casals performances.
ML
 
I have the Casals, Rostropovich, Starker, Tunnicliffe and Martin Zeller versions.
Heretic that I am I listen mostly to the Zeller (on MA recordings). A very expressive, lively reading, and nicely recorded in a live acoustic.
 
Why are the cello suites so appreciated by people? I never get questions about Bachs organ works, whilst that is his real stuff.

Please note that this is a honest question - I just don't get it.
 
Why are the cello suites so appreciated by people? I never get questions about Bachs organ works, whilst that is his real stuff.

Please note that this is a honest question - I just don't get it.

I just don’t get on with the church organ as an instrument. A cello or violin is a far more organic, alive and expressive instrument to my mind. I love Bach’s keyboard works, but I far prefer hearing them played on the piano than either organ or harpsichord, again as it is dynamic and alive.
 
Why are the cello suites so appreciated by people? I never get questions about Bachs organ works, whilst that is his real stuff.

Please note that this is a honest question - I just don't get it.

Yes it is a good question. Perhaps you should start a thread. I have a few versions of various pieces of organ music. I like the grandeur that an organ can bring to a piece of music. Some of it is quite challenging to music reproduction systems.
 
Why are the cello suites so appreciated by people? I never get questions about Bachs organ works, whilst that is his real stuff.

Please note that this is a honest question - I just don't get it.

The second and the fifth are particularly expressive, dark, at least in some performances. The sixth is a particular favourite of mine because of the wacky prelude and expressive sarabande. There’s a view that the essence of late Bach is about intense dark anguish surfacing through radient Apollonian music, and a decent performance of the cello suites can have this property.


The instrument they play makes a big difference. Have you tried Dimitry Badiarov’s recording?
 
Re organ, I’ve been really enjoying two recordings recently, both on very colourful old instruments. One is Franz Wilfred Von Promintz’s Art of Fugue at Gräfendrola, the other is David Franke’s Clavier Übung iii at Naumburg.

Both these recordings have made me rethink completely what Bach should sound like.
 
Some of it is quite challenging to music reproduction systems.

You have to remember that organ recordings aren’t made in studios, they’re made in cathedrals.

There’s another side to it. The best people to play an organ are often not stars signed up to contracts with big companies, they’re academics or church people who have dedicated their lives to a particular instrument or to some aspect of interpretation. These guys know and love the music, they can drive the organ and they’re fully aware of the acoustics of the building. They get recorded by small specialist labels, and although their engineers may work with love, it’s not the same as the best team and the best recording equipment provided by a big company with a big budget.
 
Where the pieces are recorded has no impact on the ability of a system to replay it, the very lowest notes do have an impact. That these notes benefit from the size of a cathedral is not in real doubt. Very low synth notes present an equal challenge, but these are recorded in a studio.
 
The second and the fifth are particularly expressive, dark, at least in some performances. The sixth is a particular favourite of mine because of the wacky prelude and expressive sarabande. There’s a view that the essence of late Bach is about intense dark anguish surfacing through radient Apollonian music, and a decent performance of the cello suites can have this property.


The instrument they play makes a big difference. Have you tried Dimitry Badiarov’s recording?

I only have the Gendron recording of 2, 3 and 5. I'll rip that cd today and listen to it again. Its quite a while ago.

In my church - I'm organist - I have to hire a cello player every year for Good Friday - hard requirement by the people. And everytime I ask the cello player what he suggests to play, I get as a suggestion the Cello Suites.

The Cello Suites are mostly constructed out of broken chords and my mind fills in the harmonies automatically. I'm currently studying the Fantasia BWV 903 and despite it is supposed to be an early work of Bach, I much prefer it to the cello suites. The reason why I mention this piece of music: It are also broken chords or arpeggios - mostly around the diminished seventh chord though.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check out the Badariov recording, and the mention of the organ recordings. Personally, I'm a Koopman fan. I might post on this in the future, but in the near future my agenda looks mad.
 
Where the pieces are recorded has no impact on the ability of a system to replay it, the very lowest notes do have an impact. That these notes benefit from the size of a cathedral is not in real doubt. Very low synth notes present an equal challenge, but these are recorded in a studio.

Reproducing organmusic is a real challenge. I found happyness in active Ovators. The downside is that they are picky on other types of music. In general, they convey Bach cantata's, harpsichord, organmusic, singer-songwriter kind of music well. I've not tried all kinds of poppy music its beyond my understanding and likes.

Its like the music is completely undusted and uncongested. I believe that the key is in the active construction: low bass will not distort the treble since it is driven separately.

In 10 minutes I will start the cello suites on them while coding software ...
 
Its not a hi-fi thing for me, I have 15” Tannoys in huge Lockwood studio cabs, so very similar to say Decca’s studio system at the time of the legendary SXL recordings. My issue is a) a church organ, like a harpsichord, has no dynamic range (the keys are simple switches that don’t respond to velocity or touch), and b) the thing makes everything sound like religion!

I need to have another go with it though. I love Bach as a composer and he wrote a heck of a lot of stuff for this medium, so really I need to get beyond my preconceptions of the instrument and give it a better chance.
 
Tony, let me help you on B.

I'm a religious person myself, tho very liberal. I listen and see and draw my own conclusions - unlike many people (not only in church, but in any place - I find nowadays (liberal(!)) church a relief to what politicians or scientists are telling on tv). My vicar is married gay, something which would not be accepted at the local football club.

But, its not about that. In my country - the Netherlands - the most impressive instruments were commissioned by governments, not the church. In my county the tower and the gates of the church did in the past belong to the government and only the choir and main ship or the building to the church.

Organs were commissioned by the government and their sole purpose was to impress the people of the city - going to church, or visitors from other cities. It was 'who has the longest' avant la lettre.

This very organ - Haarlem - is a prime example of it:

800px-Sint_bavo_haarlem_orgel_front_1010116.jpg
 


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