They are some of the most frequently performed and recognizable solo compositions ever written for cello. Pablo casalss discovery and popularization of the music in spain in the late19th century. Almost every great cellist of the twentieth century has recorded johann sebastian bachs six suites for solo cello. Prindle university of massachusetts amherst follow this and additional works at. Allegro non troppo allegretto quasi menuetto allegro yeardate of composition yd of comp. Yoyo mas second recording of bachs cello suites, released in 1997, came about after he heard a quote by albert schweitzer describing bach as a pictorial composer. Selections toby thatcher conductor playlist tue 8 aug 6.
Nov 25, 1997 a new york times notable book this brilliant and magisterial book is a very good bet to. News yoyo ma speaks at university of michigan, convenes day of action in flint. Bachs suites for unaccompanied cello have long been among my favorite pieces of music. May 01, 2007 one could, as cellist steven isserlis evidently does, consider bachs six suites for solo cello to possess a hidden inner program following the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries of the christian faith. Siblins book is partly an attempt to flesh out these portraits. Discovering the bach cello suites in 1890, while casals and his father were browsing a barcelona bookstore, casals stumbled upon a volume. Eric siblin is a writer with interests in history, music, hockey, and olive oil. M y first exposure to bachs cello suites, after working as a pop music critic for a daily newspaper, rewired my audio circuitry. The six cello suites, bwv 10071012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by johann sebastian bach. Johannes brahms, mstislav rostropovich, rudolf serkin brahms. His first book, the cello suites, explores the multilayered story of an epic composition by johann sebastian bach. It was composed for and dedicated to josef gansbacher, a singing teacher and amateur cellist. This is the brahms 4 cello excerpt from mvt 2, view the sheet music and compare three recordings. Jan 15, 2010 m y first exposure to bachs cello suites, after working as a pop music critic for a daily newspaper, rewired my audio circuitry.
The book is structured in six chapters the suites of six subchapters the bachs suites for unaccompanied cello have long been among my favorite pieces of music. It took place in a small concert hall where a cellist with a shock. A master melodist at the worst of times, here brahms is absolutely on fire. Brahms appreciated the cellos qualities as a melodic voice, and had given it the opening themes of the bmajor piano trio and the bflatmajor string sextet. Read unlimited books and audiobooks on the web, ipad, iphone and android. Zuill baileyawadagin pratt brahms works for cello and. He has also recorded in nonclassical styles, notably in collaboration with bobby mcferrin, chris botti, carlos santana and james taylor. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. In the course of a successful search for the bach cello suites, amazon recommended that i try this recording.
Towering over the cello repertoire is the opening from bach s cello suite no. Bach most likely composed them during the period 171723, when he served as kapellmeister in kothen. Eric siblin includes these and countless other facts in the cello suites, a book that will fascinate anyone who loves bachs music. His recording, to brahms with love from the cello of pablo casals, features brahms cello sonatas nos.
Winner of the mavis gallant prize for nonfiction and the mcauslan first book prize, the cello suites weaves together three dramatic narratives. Appropriately and not surprisingly there are countless editions of the suites. Anyone wishing to tackle bachs cello suites will find several editions from barenreiter, each. He has recorded more than 90 albums and received 18 grammy awards. When you think cello, you think of bachs immortal cello suites. The next two are about pablo casals, and the sixth about the authors journey in pursuing the suites. The solo cello suites are perhaps the cellists equivalent of climbing. Allegro e minor mp3 performed by wendy warner cello, eileen buck piano creative. Mischa maiskys inclusion of transcriptions of some of brahmss wellknown songs may cause a raised eyebrow or two, but its worth remembering that clara schumann and brahmss violinist friend joseph joachim frequently performed his lieder in this way. B to d scan the qr code or copy the address below into your wallet to send bitcoin.
These two works are much more impassioned and complex than the three violin sonatas, and brahms uses every possibility of the cello, from the bottom to the heights of its register. For cello and piano, violin, cello and piano, flute and piano price. Pablo casals plays brahms, gemm cd 9363 pablo casals plays works for cello and orchestra, gemm cd 9349 pablo casals plays beethoven, gemm cds 9461 double cd franz schubert casals edition, sony classical, smk 58 992. The first three movements of johannes brahms e minor cello sonata were composed in 1862, the last movement was written in 1865. Brahms is one of the best loved yet most controversial of all the romantics. The first three movements of each suite are about bach. Sep 07, 2018 mstislav rostropovich, alexander dedyukhin brahms. Preparing for your orchestral cello audition starts here. Both venerate casals as an important figure in the works history, with steven isserlis even paying touching homage to him by appending a performance of a catalan folksong. The two brahms cello sonatas are performed by leonard rose, cello and, again, jeanbernard pommier on the piano.
Learned a lot, to be sure, about bach, casals and these wonderful notes. Bach, johann sebastian six suites for violoncello solo. Music of bach, beethoven, brahms, handel, haydn, mozart, schubert, tchaikovsky, vivaldi and wagner 18. Certainly, there have been great recordings of the works in the past the expressive piatgorsky, the elegant fournier, the burly rostropovich, the list goes on and on but, equally certainly. The two men have been friends since college and have performed together on numerous occasions, so they have an instinctive feel for combining the right energies in the composers music. It only takes a few minutes of listening to the opening movement of brahms first attempt at a cello sonata to know that hes cracked it. Since then his recording of j s bachs cello suites has been a massive success particularly in the usa where it spent four. It is a task so daunting that the famous russian cellist mstislav rostropovich only felt himself worthy of the feat at the age of 68 in his much anticipated 1995 recording, legendary even before its release. That led ma to ask six directors and several other artists from different disciplines to collaborate with him on a series of short films part documentary, part performance each one based on one of the suites. Buy bach cello suites steven isserlis by steven isserlis, johann sebastian bach, traditional, from amazons classical music store. How bachs cello suites changed eric siblins life culture. Bach, pablo casals, and the search for a baroque masterpiece. Educated at concordia university in montreal, he has worked as a staff reporter for the canadian press and the montreal gazette.
Most people who have absolutely no knowledge of the cello so most people will be innately familiar with the bobbing broken chords and plaintive tranquility that seeps all the way through this work. Born in paris, he spent his schooling years in new york city and was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He makes life difficult for his readers by copying the. He graduated from the juilliard school and harvard university, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world. However much they pretend that the sonic limitations of early or prelp sources often matter little to a perfectly adequate appreciation or enjoyment of the. Cdhb 61027 casals, 4 cd special set, pearl, gemm cds 9935, consisting of. Theres a contradiction at the heart of collecting historical recordings. Johann sebastian bach cello suites nos 16 a score for the cello. Bachs six suites for solo cello describing in detail each of the six movements from each of the six suites is too big a task for this page. The collaboration of zuill bailey, cello, and awadagin pratt, piano, two wellknown and highly accomplished musicians, suits the works of johannes brahms 18331897 especially well. One could, as cellist steven isserlis evidently does, consider bachs six suites for solo cello to possess a hidden inner program following the joyful, the sorrowful, and the glorious mysteries of the christian faith. Mas albums include recordings of cello concertos including, among others, shostakovich, brahms, elgar, and haydn, sonatas for cello and piano, bachs cello suites, and a variety of chamber music. Bach, pablo casals, and the search for a baroque masterpiece kindle edition by siblin, eric. He notes, for instance, that bachs four musical sons kept his work in circulation, that mozart was mightily impressed by a motet he heard at a leipzig church, and that the 12yearold beethoven raised some.
The idea to write a book about the bach suites, one that is not aimed at classical connoisseurs, came to me when i first heard three of the cello suites in that toronto recital by laurence lesser. Jan 16, 2019 mstislav rostropovich, alexander dedyukhin brahms. Professor gary karpinski this thesis proposes a methodology for understanding the form of a baroque prelude, particularly the preludes to the six suites for unaccompanied violoncello. The idea was vague, but i had a strong sense there was a story there, somewhere, and decided to follow in the footsteps of the notes. Performance score, urtext edition, anthology, book, facsimile. These are factually the 10 best cello pieces in existence.
Peled and the amit peled cello gang released a cello ensemble album on peleds own label ctm classics in october 2017. Yoyo ma born october 7, 1955 is an american musician. The question that immediately springs to mind on the release of a new cd set of the bach cello suites is what, of value, could this recording possibly add to the myriad. The suites take centre stage in the cello literature. Dec 20, 2010 eric siblin includes these and countless other facts in the cello suites, a book that will fascinate anyone who loves bachs music. The author has organized the book around the movements of the six cello suites. No matter how many recordings of brahms cello sonatas you have indeed, the more recordings you have, the better this recording by steven isserlis and stephen hough deserves to be heard. Barenreiter bach cello suites sheet music evergreen workshop. Eric silbins the cello suites tenderly tracks them through bachs creation, their discovery by pablo casals and to the authors own exploration of the music and himself. J s bach the six cello suites pablo casals, 1936 39 youtube.
Of the six suites, four are in a major key and two in a minor key, increasing in technical complexity and emotional richness from the first to the last. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the cello suites. One could thus hear the first suite as the nativity, the fifth suite as the crucifixion, and the sixth suite as the resurrection or not, depending on ones aesthetic tastes. Brahms, johannes sonata for violoncello and piano in e. These are factually the 10 best cello pieces in existence classic fm. Music of bach, beethoven, brahms, handel, haydn, mozart, schubert, tchaikovsky, vivaldi. One could thus hear the first suite as the nativity, the fifth suite as the crucifixion, and the sixth suite as the. Memory lane music publishing, public domain compositions, and 1 music rights societies. Bach cello suites for electric bass sheet music bass book new 000123294 4. They are timeless and beautiful and accompany cellists from their student years up through their professional career at the highest level. One evening, journalist eric siblin attended a recital of johann sebastian bachs cello suites and began an epic quest that would unravel three centuries of intrigue, politics, and passion.
Pieter wispelwey plays the bach cello suites js bach cello suites nos. Cradle song is the common name for a number of childrens lullabies with similar lyrics, the original of which was johannes brahms s wiegenlied. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. His f major cello sonata was composed more than twenty years later alongside the last two violin sonatas and the c minor piano trio.
The plain dealer judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into brahmss human complexity as well as his music, johannes brahms is an indispensable biography. Cradle song is the common name for a number of childrens lullabies with similar lyrics, the original of which was johannes brahmss wiegenlied. A new york times notable book this brilliant and magisterial book is a very good bet to. Guten abend, gute nacht good evening, good night, op. Concerto for violoncello and orchestra in b minor op. Greatest cello pieces everyone should know must hear. In his lifetime, brahmss popularity and influence were considerable. April 3, 1897, german composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the romantic period. The form of the preludes to bachs unaccompanied cello suites.
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