Product Details
Bach: Cello Suites Vol.2

Bach: Cello Suites Vol.2
From Sony

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Track Listing

  1. Prelude
  2. Allemande
  3. Courante
  4. Sarabande
  5. Bourree I / Bourree II
  6. Gigue
  7. Prelude
  8. Allemande
  9. Courante
  10. Sarabande
  11. Gavotte I / Gavotte II
  12. Gigue
  13. Prelude
  14. Allemande
  15. Courante
  16. Sarabande
  17. Gavotte I / Gavotte II
  18. Gigue

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #130576 in Music
  • Released on: 1999-09-03
  • Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Bylsma's approach is stunning5
To those of you who are chary of "historically informed" interpretations, you needn't be in this case. Though presumably Bylsma's approach is scholarly and "correct", there is nothing objective about his interpretation. It is sinewy, chocolately, dramatic, as winning and hearfelt an interpretation as any of the great performances on the modern cello by Cassals, Fournier, Rostropovich et al.

Bylsma uses an actual period cello, not a reproduction, but manages to bring it alive and to coax out of it the sweetest sounds. Bylsma's tempi are faster than those familiar with modern interpretations might be prepared for, but his musicianship is so keen that the most precise phrasing remains intact and Bach's music never ends up sounding forced or rushed.

I urge you to take a risk with this set (vols I and II), especially since the above Sony "Essential Classics" price is about half its original price!

Don't Overlook!5
More familiar names like Ma, Rostropovich, or Casals are often mentioned as recommendations for recordings of Bach's glorious cello suites, and rightly so. Don't overlook Anner Bylsma's interpretations, though. They easily hold their own or surpass more famous ones.

A seasoned figure of the period performance movement, Bylsma offers us some wonderful music-making here. He beautifully balances the cool calculation and rhapsodic, improvisational feel of these pieces. These are fundamentally warm, fleet, lyrical interpretations, yet they certainly don't neglect the more stringent, austere, solemn elements of the works. Bylsma's 1669 Venetian instrument has a pleasingly dry, light tone and is well recorded in a spacious church acoustic.

I haven't heard Bylsma's more recent recordings of the suites, but based on these recordings, I'd sure love to.