Description
https://youtu.be/r4RYGrxxnho
Bach: Cello Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV 1007 (Lipkind, Yamashita, Dieltiens)
Given the foundational place Bach’s Cello Suites occupy in the cello repertoire, it’s kind of amazing to think that they languished in almost-total obscurity until a young Pablo Casals found the score on sale along a Barcelona street in 1890, and that at the time Bach wrote the suites – in 1720 or so – the cello was a relatively new and experimental instrument (we still don’t know what kind of cello Bach wrote these for, since so many variants proliferated during the period). Until today the autograph manuscript of the suites has not been found (there is a remote possibility – not kidding – that it is stashed a trunk lost in Illinois around 1950), and the copy which Anna Magdalena Bach made (the best source we have) might have been from a manuscript which was still a work in progress, or even one that was never completed.
In any case, the cello suites are some of Bach’s profoundest works, and fully deserve their reputation – even when only a single melodic line is being played, they are replete with little miracles of craft and harmony and counterpoint, and it’s remarkable how Bach can resolve one note into another very far away in time and register. They are arranged in increasing order of difficulty (though 2/3 and 4/5 are kind of close), and have a common structure: they open and close with a prelude and gigue, with three old Baroque dances (allemande, sarabande, courante) in between, plus one newer dance (minuet/bourrée/gavotte).
Lipkind
00:00 – Prelude
02:38 – Allemande
08:35 – Courante
11:09 – Sarabande
15:17 – Menuet I (16:51 – Menuet II)
19:26 – Gigue
Yamashita
21:09 – Prelude
23:33 – Allemande
27:17 – Courante
29:56 – Sarabande
32:52 – Menuet I (34:00 – Menuet II)
35:49 – Gigue
Dieltiens
37:25 – Prelude
40:06 – Allemande
44:47 – Courante
47:28 – Sarabande
50:33 – Menuet I (51:52 – Menuet II)
54:03 – Gigue