Bach Cello Suites

[Guido]

Just listened to Kniazev myself on Spotify - too much for me! It's all a bit predictable - so many tracks are over the 5 minute mark... I don't think the music survives. Rostropovich takes 10 minutes on that last Courante (one of the most profoundly beautiful movements in all of the suites) but the result is actually the otherwordly, heilig-gesang that this guy is clearly aiming at.

[George]

He brings to my mind those cavemen guys from the Geico commercials.

I thought it was Slash.

[karlhenning]

For those still questioning a new or additional version of the Cello Suites, BRO is still offering the much lauded Queyras set, described in the attachment - mine is 'in the mail'! 

Well, I snoozed and I lost.  (Strictly speaking not a snooze, just temporary non-capacity for trigger-pulling.)

That's all right; there will be other fabulous recordings!

[stingo]

Any thoughts on Bruno Cocset's version on Alpha?

[prémont]

Any thoughts on Bruno Cocset's version on Alpha?

Se reply 12 in this very thread.

[Que]

Se reply 12 in this very thread.

And reply 61.

Q

[stingo]

Gotcha!

Sorry, can't help there. 

S'ok - to bring this back to topic, I'd been thinking about the Cocset version for a while, but was unsure, even after listening to the samples at the Alpha Productions website. I'd seen the review cited from Amazon n the earlier post, but was unsure about the recording. Samples are one thing but I didn't know if I'd want to listen to the whole thing. Guess the only way to find out is to get it.

[George]

S'ok - to bring this back to topic, I'd been thinking about the Cocset version for a while, but was unsure, even after listening to the samples at the Alpha Productions website. I'd seen the review cited from Amazon n the earlier post, but was unsure about the recording. Samples are one thing but I didn't know if I'd want to listen to the whole thing. Guess the only way to find out is to get it.

Have you tried Wispelwey on Channel Classics? That one is my current favorite. It's a beautifully introspective reading.

[Moldyoldie]

Schiff and Kirschbaum are the two I have -- nicely contrasting and can be recommended.

[Peregrine]

Anyone mentioned Shafran? Suites 2 - 5 are available in a Brilliant box set. Big boned, romantic readings that won't be to everyone's tastes, but I think they are rather fab...

[Antoine Marchand]

Maybe somebody could be interested in THIS deep and intelligent interview to Pieter Wispelwey about his teachers, his approach to Bach's Cello Suites, gut strings v/s steel strings, Anner Bylsma, Gustav Leonhardt, etc. 

[George]

Maybe somebody could be interested in THIS deep and intelligent interview to Pieter Wispelwey about his teachers, his approach to Bach's Cello Suites, gut strings v/s steel strings, Anner Bylsma, Gustav Leonhardt, etc. 

Thanks for that!

I am a big fan of his Cello Suites, the one on the Channel label. haven't heard the other one.

[Antoine Marchand]

Thanks for that!

My pleasure! 

I am a big fan of his Cello Suites, the one on the Channel label. haven't heard the other one.

IIRC, you have Wispelwey's second recording; the first one dates from the 80s, also on Channel Classics. I found this interview today, while I was listening to his break-necking performance of Haydn's Cello Concerto in C, accompanied by the Florilegium Ensemble (Channel too).

[George]

IIRC, you have Wispelwey's second recording;

That's correct.

[DavidRoss]

Maybe somebody could be interested in THIS deep and intelligent interview to Pieter Wispelwey about his teachers, his approach to Bach's Cello Suites, gut strings v/s steel strings, Anner Bylsma, Gustav Leonhardt, etc. 

Yes, thank you.  I do not know Wispelwey's first recording of the Suites for Channel Classics, but the second is an old favorite.  Id like to hear the aluminum-wrapped gut strings he speaks of.  His comments on the Schumann concerto were interesting:

Schumann's own metronome marking is a good clue: 130 beats per minute. I've heard it played as slowly as 88 beats per minute, which makes quite a difference. I'm certainly not the first to feel this way. I believe there is a new Bärenreiter edition that quotes Clara Schumann as describing the piece as "radiant and outgoing," which isn't exactly what cellists are being taught generally. The Schumann is still often played with Pablo Casals' brand of yawning profundity.

Perhaps the Schumann's better than it sounds (with a tip of the hat to Mark Twain)...?

[Antoine Marchand]

There are several insightful ideas there, also some funny comments:

"In addition to solidifying my cello technique, I have her to thank for my obsession with gut strings. Even as a child I used them -- pure gut A and D -- and I continued to use them throughout my conservatory years and during the first few years of my professional career. This became problematic when I began performing pieces like the Britten Suites and the Dutilleux and Shostakovich concerti, so I eventually switched to steel strings, which ironically, in the case of the pieces I just mentioned, was a sort of "period-string" authenticity, since they were all written for Rostropovich, who of course plays on steel".   

[Scarpia]

Which is which?

[Opus106]

'90 on the left; '98 on the right.

[karlhenning]

For those still questioning a new or additional version of the Cello Suites, BRO is still offering the much lauded Queyras set, described in the attachment - mine is 'in the mail'! 

Well, I snoozed and I lost.  (Strictly speaking not a snooze, just temporary non-capacity for trigger-pulling.)

That's all right; there will be other fabulous recordings!

Well, I am lucky, and no mistake:  BRO has the Queyras back in stock.

And, yes, I done pulled the trigger.

[DavidRoss]

Well, I snoozed and I lost.  (Strictly speaking not a snooze, just temporary non-capacity for trigger-pulling.)

That's all right; there will be other fabulous recordings!


Well, I am lucky, and no mistake:  BRO has the Queyras back in stock.

And, yes, I done pulled the trigger.

Fabulous? No.  But lovely?  Yes.  Thoughtful?  Yes.  More "thoughtful" than "dancing," I would say.  And in very good sound in a rich but not terribly reverberant acoustic.  An especially good value at BRO's prices, and a fine addition (for me) to Tortelier, Fournier, Casals, and others. 

I think I'll put it on now.  and I hope you enjoy it as much as I.