Bach Cello Suites

[prémont]

Bylsma I is a bit hard to find these days, and seems to be more popular. I'm a big fan of his playing. Our Traverso turned me onto his work a couple years ago, shortly before Bylsma's death actually.

Both commercial recordings (Bijlsma I and Bijlsma II) are included in this box:

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Anner-Bylsma-plays-Cello-Suites-and-Sonatas/hnum/3787274

[Mandryka]

Oh, and it was the Allemande that I listened to, not the sarabande! Sorry.

[Madiel]

David Watkin.

[T. D.]

Will revisit the Bijlsma recordings when I get home from work.
I have both. Always got the impression of a critical consensus in favor of I, but recall rather liking II once I heard it.

[Mandryka]

I've timestamped these two clips to start at a phrase which caught my attention, where I think you hear the differences in approach

https://www.youtube.com/v/rQNapVZYOPw&ab_channel=AnnerBylsma-Topic&start=60

https://www.youtube.com/v/5v8Lm3d7Rqg&t=48s&ab_channel=C0urante&start=48

[vers la flamme]

Both commercial recordings (Bijlsma I and Bijlsma II) are included in this box:

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Anner-Bylsma-plays-Cello-Suites-and-Sonatas/hnum/3787274

Oh boy and it's dirt cheap too. Very tempting!

[prémont]

Having listened to the entire fifth and sixth cello suite (Bijlsma I & II), an overall picture emerges. Bijlsma I is more briefly articulated bordering on the over-articulated, while Bijlsma II is articulated in longer units and is generally more smooth and elegant and at the same time very expressive due to the subtle use of dynamics and inflection of the notes. One can say that Bijlsma I speaks while Bijlsma II sings. My own preference between the two versions is Bijlsma II.

[bioluminescentsquid]

I could have got the recordings mixed up of course, but I'd be very interested to know what this means: let each bow stroke have its own natural articulation.

The balance of a baroque bow naturally gives notes that taper off in the start and end, the famous Messa di voce - Bylsma uses this more in his 1st recording than the 2nd, which is what gives the more articulated/over-articulated feel to the first. But I do like that.

[Que]

Having listened to the entire fifth and sixth cello suite (Bijlsma I & II), an overall picture emerges. Bijlsma I is more briefly articulated bordering on the over-articulated, while Bijlsma II is articulated in longer units and is generally more smooth and elegant and at the same time very expressive due to the subtle use of dynamics and inflection of the notes. One can say that Bijlsma I speaks while Bijlsma II sings. My own preference between the two versions is Bijlsma II.

I fully agree!

[aukhawk]

[Bylsma I ]

Looks like this



or this, remastered: (this is the cover to look for if you're using Spotify)

Also found on Sony Essential Classics:



I much prefer I to II - II sounds rather mainstream to me but  I  was, when it first came out, a real jump away from the likes of Tortelier, Rostropovich, Fournier, Starker.

[edit: - apologies, I didn't spot that the 2nd image quoted was also Sony Essential Classics (repackaged). ]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

If you wanna know a damn tragedy, I bought Bylsma II (used, from Ebay) and was getting ready to rip it to my computer yesterday when I realized that the disc inside was not Bylsma or Bach at all but Michael Tilson Thomas conducting Ives' third symphony -___- (which I already have)

According to Jung's Synchronicity, MTT or Ives may come back to your life later with much significance. 
Or, giving the disc to someone may make a significant change.

[vers la flamme]

According to Jung's Synchronicity, MTT or Ives may come back to your life later with much significance. 
Or, giving the disc to someone may make a significant change.

Thanks for that—for curiosity's sake I hope you're right  (I need to read more Jung)

[bioluminescentsquid]

David Watkin.

A very nice recording, beautiful sound quality. I'd say it's more on the rhetorical, dramatic side, a bit of a romantic vision in baroque clothes. (Maybe this applies to Bylsma II too) The 6th suite is really something!

[Madiel]

A very nice recording, beautiful sound quality. I'd say it's more on the rhetorical, dramatic side, a bit of a romantic vision in baroque clothes. (Maybe this applies to Bylsma II too) The 6th suite is really something!

Well it depends quite what you mean by "romantic". Sometimes it just means not like the classical period, but then there were quite a few things in the baroque that were not like the classical period.

Rhetorical is a good description I think, and that's one of the things I like about it, especially in the preludes.

[bioluminescentsquid]

Well it depends quite what you mean by "romantic". Sometimes it just means not like the classical period, but then there were quite a few things in the baroque that were not like the classical period.

Rhetorical is a good description I think, and that's one of the things I like about it, especially in the preludes.

Thinking about it, I think it is my way of saying that it reminds me more of modern performance than HIP practice - I think mainly in the sense that he plays quite freely not restricted by the dance rhythms.

[bioluminescentsquid]

Listening to Beschi's 5th Sarabande, his playing is remarkably sober for this suite. The falling, highly chromatic lines feel very snakelike to me, much like what Leo van Doeselaar says about the manual lines in BWV 637 Durch Adams Fall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slrlY1AdeyY

[bioluminescentsquid]

Another one that has grown on me (Wieland Kuijken on Arcana), something about how introverted it is, but also how he plays with our expectations a lot with agogics and wry departures from the beat.

[San Antone]

The All of Bach YouTube channel has all of the cello suites done by different cellists.  IMO they are all excellent.

Bach - Cello Suite no. 2 in D minor BWV 1008
Steuart Pincombe | Netherlands Bach Society

https://www.youtube.com/v/_NvZRo-3wvU

[pianoforever]

Just finished listening to Alisa Weilerstein's fairly recent set of the 6 suites. I really liked it. Beautiful sound, and thoughtful phrasing. You can find it on Spotify as well. Worth sampling

[Olias]

Just finished listening to Alisa Weilerstein's fairly recent set of the 6 suites. I really liked it. Beautiful sound, and thoughtful phrasing. You can find it on Spotify as well. Worth sampling

Yes! Alisa is my absolute favorite cellist and I really enjoy her Bach Suites.