I recently finished reading a book called The Cello Suites by Eric Siblin, a fascinating mixture of biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, life story of cellist Pablo Casals, and history of the Bach's Six Suites for Solo Cello. I don't generally delve into classical music on this blog (that's more Ben's space once in a while) but I was inspired by the book to revisit my cello playing past.
I grew up playing cello classically, studying under a teacher who (rightfully so) felt that Bach's 6 Cello Suites were the best pieces to play on the instrument. Although I worked on other pieces by other composers, hardly a lesson went by when we didn't play at least a couple movements of one of the suites. They have an interesting story - for over a century they were seen as merely technical exercises rather than standalone pieces. When Pablo Casals found them in a second hand sheet music shop, he saw something in them that others didn't. After over a decade of playing them privately, he started playing them publicly. It was a revelation - he brought an emotion to the six suites that vaulted them from obscurity to stardom. Casals, toward the end of his life, was called a "geriatric superstar."It's tough for me to listen to the suites and understand how you could miss the emotion of them. They are technically difficult, sure, but they are also imbued with a raw emotion and passion that is hard to escape. Maybe it's a statement that much more depends on the performer than we have traditionally given credit for - even a great score can be overlooked if the subtext isn't brought out in performance.
Here are two of my favorite movements from the Suites played by the two best cellists in history (opinion, bordering on fact), Yo Yo Ma's explosive version of the Prelude to the 6th Suite in D Major and Pablo Casals playing the beautiful Sarabande from the 5th Suite in C Minor. Also, for your perusal, a thoroughly impressive version of the Courante from the 1st Suite in G Major played by Edgar Meyer on the Double Bass. Well played indeed.
5 comments:
hi, thanks so much for posting this. i am doing a few of the suites for my a-level music recital and need to do extended reading on them so was considering buying this book. would you be able to answer a few questions about it? does it give detail about each of the movements in the suites individually, and like detail on how to play them etc? if not, what sort of content does the book have, what chapters and things?
thank you so much! Anna x
Hey flyingwithanna -
The book is a fascinating read, although I don't know if it has exactly the information you're looking for. Siblin focuses more on the history of Bach and the suites than on technical instruction - although I would argue that part of the beauty of the suites is that no one can really tell you how to play them!
The book has some good summaries of the different types of movements (e.g. what a Sarabande is, what the significance of most movements having a Prelude and one having a Praelaudium is, etc), but doesn't delve too deeply into the theory. It's more of a dual biography aimed toward both musicians and music lovers, I guess...
Hope that's helpful!
Thanks for posting. Great book.
My new favourite is cellist Josephine van Lier. She recorded the Suites with four different instruments. Her Sarabandes are amazing. Especially on her baroque cello (the 5th) and the violoncello piccolo (6th)
Actually she recorded a bonus disc with the 5th in its entirely also on contemporary cello and carbon fiber cello.
www.josephienvanlier.com
the rostropovich set is the bommmmmmmmmb too
Yes, Rostropovich is great too! A lot of emotions in his playing. Yo-Yo Ma is a machine who plays perfectly all the notes, and his CD's are over edited.
I think Josephine van Lier' style is more like Bylsma and Wispelweij. Just noticed the above link is wrong: should be www.josephinevanlier.com
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