Bach Cello Suites (2024)

Different renderings of classical pieces can be night-and-day difference. There are some pieces that have been worn grey from over exposure and then you hear that one special version and it's like it is a completely new piece all over again.

My year in review music roundups from Spotify or Apple Music have always been totally useless because I code to Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians almost daily. Something about that composition just gets me in the zone and I've been using it to study or work to since I first heard it in college 20+ years ago.

"Reality has a surprising amount of detail" (2017): 7 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43087779

8 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16184255

6 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22020495

2 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38407851

Oh, it's...very new! Thanks for the recommendation.

Another recommendation: the recordings by the multigenre saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu. It's insane. I won't give anything away, but in particular set aside some time to listen to the Menuets & Gigue from the first suite without any distractions.

https://yasuaki-shimizu.com/music/cello-suites-2/

I'm a cellist, played all the suites and always start with them when I return to the instrument after a hiatus. They've been analyzed to death, so my goal when playing is to avoid over-intellectualizing ("learn the changes, then forget them") and just try to take a different emotional journey each time (no way to say that without it sounding sappy), physically leading with my breath.

My favorite recording of the suites is by Enrico Dindo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a03He2x15qk&list=PLTzGkNV1IX...

> they were disregarded.

As were the Partitas and Sonatas for unaccompanied violin. It wasn’t until the great 19th century violinist Joachim began playing them in recitals that they came to light again. Even then it was not widely accepted. I believe it may have been George Bernard Shaw who had pretty harsh words to say about the very idea of treating these works seriously. My daughter is preparing for her conservatory auditions; and these works are now compulsory literally everywhere!

> My understanding is that for centuries after Bach's death, they were disregarded.

Not exactly.

Bach died in 1750. At this time the "market" for music was going through big changes. In Bach's time the main customers for music were courts of barons and kings and municipalities. That's the career he had, a musikmeister.

But look deeper and you'll see an economic landscape changing: the rise of cities, merchants, financial capitalism, etc. A bourgeoisie was rising and consuming music in concert rooms, opera houses and for private playing. But this bourgeoisie had different tastes. They didn't have a deep musical instruction so they preferred more "pop" music: easy to listen, easy to play, easy to follow. Bach's music is the opposite of it. It was out of fashion.

Bach's sons followed this simplified style. Most of all, Carl Philip Emanuel Bach was big into it. He got so good at this that he became an instructor and mentor to both Mozart and Haydn.

But Carl never stopped adoring his father music and used Johan Sebastian Bach (his dad) material for teaching. So J.S. Bach was widely known and venerated among musicians, including Beethoven.

However, the public recognition of Bach's worth only began when Mendelssohn made public presentations of his masses, in 1829. But this was 37 years before Pablo Casals was born.

regular claude is not so concise, or decisive

Thanks! Never heard of this podcast, quite interesting.

Comparing various recordings is a rabbit hole I like falling into.

When tuning down those two strings, would the player need to "relearn" the positions of fingers on the strings when playing? Or would they play at the same positions and ignore the conflict in expected and actual sound?

My mom is performing the Kodaly next weekend–weird timing to see this on HN!

Hey, Joe! This is one of my favorite cello pieces -- so hauntingly beautiful. I've probably listened to Janos Starker's performance dozens of times, but I also liked Inbal Segev's version. Parts of it seemed brighter somehow.

Thank you for sharing this; I'm really enjoying it a lot.

I was going to share this but you beat me to it. I stumbled across this a few weeks ago. What an amazing resource.

The Netherlands Bach Society has actually started a huge project to produce high quality video recordings to all of Bach's catalogue. You can find the videos on their YT channel (https://www.youtube.com/bach) or www.allofbach.com.

I'm pretty sure I learned about this project from HN many, many years ago.

Since you mention the viola da gamba, I'll mention that in the US, the Viola da Gamba Society of America[0] is keeping the tradition alive. I'm a rusty cellist and learned of the vdgsa a few years ago. They have an annual conclave for players of all levels to learn, play, and have a good time. There was a conclave about 2.5 hrs from my home, and it was advertised as free for beginners, with the option to rent an instrument for the duration of the event across ~ a week. I also play the bass guitar and double bass, which like the gamba family are tuned in fourths vs fifths for the violin family, so I figured I'd show up and try my hand at the instrument.

They are a friendly and welcoming community maintaining a rental network in the US for the different types of violas da gamba. They have a strong interest as an organization in funding the continued scholarship, performance, and community for these forgotten instruments. It was very cool. I've since gotten my hands on a rental bass viol, though I haven't had as much time for it as I'd like.

[0] https://www.vdgsa.org/

I'm also very fond of Jian Wang's recording! Thanks for the recommendations, I've found some of Viktoria Mullova's Vivaldi renditions[1] refreshing. [1] https://viktoriamullova.com/albums/vivaldi-violin-concertos/

I wish I could listen to classical music while using my brain. I can't. I end up listening to the music.

I've been listening to Scarlatti keyboard sonatas recently. They're great. He was born the same year as Bach.

I love the Schubert song cycles, like Winterreise. There's enough overall stability to get into flow state but variety across each song.

I'm probably a dinosaur but I have yet to find a version better than the very old Fischer-Dieskau/Gerald Moore combo.

> am I just slow / a poor listener?

Don't fall into that trap. You like what you like. Bach wrote hundreds of pieces. There's no reason for anyone to "get" or "like" them all, or indeed any single one of them.

Personally, I like some of the piano and cello pieces but they only get played once or twice a year. Whereas his vocal works like the St John Passion and Ich habe genug from cantata BWV82 get played a lot. Everyone is different!

You're not alone. The British composer Arnold Bax once said "All Bach's last movements are like the running of a sewing machine."

That being said, I find his six sonatas and partitas for solo violin to be absolutely lumninous. The famous chaconne being truly sublime.

I agree. I also get much more out of playing Bach than listening to him. I almost never listen to Bach for pleasure, but I know a few fugues and the like. Playing them makes you feel like a god; listening to them feels like an assault.

The exception, for me, is the Goldberg Variations which I find have a stately and refined beauty. It's one of very few in the classical canon that I find myself returning to over the years.