BACH Cello Suites

The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007 to 1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. They are some of the most frequently performed and recognizable solo compositions ever written for cello. Bach most likely composed them during the period 1717–23, when he served as a Kapellmeister in Köthen. The title of the Anna Magdalena Bach manuscript was Suites á Violoncello Solo senza Basso (Suites for cello solo without bass). WIKIPEDIA Suite No. 5 was originally written in scordatura with the A-string tuned down to G, but nowadays a version for standard tuning is included in almost every edition of the suites along with the original version. Some chords must be simplified when playing with standard tuning, but some melodic lines become easier as well. The Prelude is written in an A–B form, and is a French overture. It begins with a slow, emotional movement that explores the deep range of the cello. After that comes a fast and very demanding single-line fugue that leads to the powerful end. This suite is most famous for its intimate Sarabande, which is the second of only four movements in all six suites that doesn't contain any chords. Rostropovich describes it as the essence of Bach's genius; Tortelier views it as an extension of silence. Yo-Yo Ma played this movement on September 11, 2002 at the site of the World Trade Center, while the first of the names of the dead were read in remembrance on the first anniversary of the attack. The fifth suite is also exceptional as its Courante and Gigue are in the French style, rather than the Italian form of the other five suites. An autograph manuscript of Bach's lute version of this suite exists as BWV 995. VIDEO: Mischa Maisky - Bach - Cello Suite No 5 in C minor, BWV 1011