Reference Recording: Bach's Solo Cello Suites

Bach: Six Suites for Solo Cello. Pablo Casals, cello. EMI/Warner (and other labels)

[@joncheskin]

I studied with a Casals student about 20 years ago, and typically play Casals fingerings and bowings for the 1st, 3rd and 4th suites. In my mind, Casals's most notable musical quality was his imagination--there are all sorts of instances where you can marvel at all the interesting things that you never would have thought of yourself. They are an endless source of interest and joy.

[@jjgghhjk]

This is THE version. I also like the Fournier version (Arkiv).

[@TichmanClassCologne]

What an interesting series this is! I would like to mention my favorite recording, by Anner Bylsma.

[@maximisaev6974]

Sure, the recordings are old, and Casals sounds a bit wayward in spots, but I absolutely adore this recording. God knows there's dozens, hundreds of versions out there, but this is the one when I'm in the mood for Bach's Cello Suites I play the most. The same can be said for Edwin Fischer's Well-Tempered Clavier. Thanks Dave for saluting this well deserved Reference Recording. I think it's time for another listen. Take care!

[@franciscocanas5686]

Bach’s cello suites are some of my most favorite music ever. But like many, I can’t listen to them all in one sitting; it’s too much of a good thing a once.

[@sjc1204]

I feel a little dumb not knowing this was the "reference." I'm not very familiar with the suites but I do own the Janos Starker set because a friend said it was a must have. You have me wondering if anyone is such a Bach cello suite fanatic that they will in fact listen to them straight through.

[@stevecook8934]

There are 5 Starker sets. Most likely you have the 3rd on Mercury Living Presence or the 5th on RCA.

[@richardmohr8604]

Re: sitting through them live I love Wispelwey's somewhat eccentric second version from 1998. A friend and I saw him do all six live many years ago and were so bored after number two we ducked out for a drink and sneaked back in for 5 and 6. Nothing wrong with his performance by the way. Having worked in classical retail in Australia on and off since 1995 I'd say Rostropovich's only set, from 1995, are the reference recording along with Casals. Not necessarily my favourite although I love them, but an observation from sales, commentary and critics.

[@Michael-nt5rp]

David, it’s perfectly delightful to sit through Yo-yo Ma’s performance in one sitting, with breaks. Try it, you will like it.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

No, I wouldn't like it. I have a difficult enough time with his recordings.

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Reading this, I felt like I was watching a guy ignore the "beware of dog" sign.

[@richardmohr8604]

He's recorded them three times

[@bluetortilla]

lol We're really in the thick of it when we're grumbling about Yoyo Ma. I'm not disagreeing,(his pretentiousness does kinda show) but I will say that most of Dave's 'signatures' are 'older.'. I mean, quite a few of them are first stereo recordings, if my memory of these videos serves me well (or not).

[@i.m.takkinen]

Great breakdown of Casals reference recording. I certainly don't count myself as the biggest Yo Yo Ma fan but I do have to defend his 1985 CBS Masterworks recordings. I really like their clarity and directness and they seem to me to make for a very fine introduction to the suites.

[@DiegoGonzalez-nv9qv]

It's true that the sound is, as you often say about historical recordings, rather grotty but Casals was an extraordinary artist even if other performances surpass it technically. I hope that Sony issues a Casals/Marlboro box soon. That Beethoven 7 performance blew me away when I was a young listener.

[@dmntuba]

And us Tuba players got 6 wonderful suites by Mr.J.S.Bach to add to our limited rep. 👍😂

[@henryoliver2833]

Looking forward to finding out what are the oldest and newest records you consider reference recordings.

[@samgibb-randall5743]

It’d probably be Bylsma now if you were to poll cellists, but certainly Casals was integral to their championing.

[@mgconlan]

Thank you for finally including an "historical recording" as your reference! I would have done the same with Schnabel's cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas. What shines through most of all in Casals' approach to the Bach cello suites is his reverence for the music. My understanding is he discovered the works as sheet music in a used-music store in Spain in 1915 but lived with them for over two decades before he finally decided he'd learned them well enough to play them in public and record them. As you point out in your video, that's a far different attitude from many of today's virtuosi who record difficult music like this in one "clump" and present their sight-readings to the world.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

The Hollywood Quartet's Schoenberg is also an "historical" recording.

[@bbailey7818]

​@@DavesClassicalGuideOr the Toscanini/NYP 1936 Beethoven 7th?

[@wyatte1833]

Not going to argue with you about any of that, but would like to mention my favorite modern recording, for sheer beauty of sound quality and extraordinary artistry, is that of Alisa Weilerstein.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I like Heinrich Schiff myself, but why not?

[@BaarnVictor]

I have many versions including that of Casals. If I had to choose one from all those recordings, it would be Heinrich Schiff.

[@jamesrbutler1]

Would it be fair to say that every cellist who ever recorded the Bach Cello Suites had the advantage of hearing Casals play them, and thus performed them while, figuratively speaking, standing on his shoulders?

[@gavingriffiths2633]

Yes, the reference for the cello suites is easy - Casals! BUT who 'popularized' the Bach solo violin music? Heifetz? I'd love to know any theories......I can't believe they were played much before the era of 'recordings'....

[@stevecook8934]

Menuhin or Milstein, perhaps? They weren't the first to play them or record them. But I think their live performances and recordings set a technical and interpretive standard that was very influential. I would choose the 1973 DG set from Milstein as the Reference Recording. Perlman's set is worthy of consideration, in my opinion. But, Milstein's set already had the critical consensus before Perlman started recording his. I might add that both of these artists lived with the music for many years and didn't rush the recording process.

[@user-gj1ux6xf8d]

Hello David ! What do you think about recent Alisa Weilerstein's recording ? I have heard Starker, Fourier, Casals, Vardai, Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma but Weilerstein made something unmatchable in terms of musicality and interpretation in my humble opinion.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

See the review on classicstoday.com. I didn't write it, but I agree with it.

[@imaddurra1339]

Who was the Bach expert you ran into in Belfast? Was it SB? From Hofstra? I am curious.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I don't remember, to be honest.

[@HubertusdgT]

is it true that there is no repertoire talk about the best Bach Cello Suites? 🙊 is this one of the "all recordings are good" cases?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Frankly yes. There are too many excellent options. Just go with the artist you know and like.

[@waynesmith3767]

Well, I adore the Casals recordings and I have probably a dozen better recordings of the box cello suites. But there is a peculiar beauty as well as being the very first of these recordings and I love them. I love others as well and the Bach cello sweets are among my favorite compositions. Everybody has their favorites, everybody is very partisan; I respect all opinions of the various good performances. Among which I most emphatically do NOT include Yo-Yo Ma. I think he sucks in all three versions.

[@fzanon]

Surely in historical terms and for one to admire his timeless musicianship, but as a first encounter with these pieces, for one to simply enjoy a good performance, no one would recommend it any longer. More recent performances, benefiting from musicological finds, sound so different to the point of being a different piece. Bylsma`s first recording also posesses the referential aura. For my own enjoyment, I prefer to hear Wilspelwey, Schiff, Queyras or Meneses. Every gret artist spends a lifetime sweating over these pieces before recording them, and Casals` example is to be acknowledged in that respect.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I didn't recommend it as a first encounter, and I never would. As I've mentioned previously, I would recommend Schiff. I find no "referential aura" in Bylsma's recordings, interesting though they are. You could argue that, like Casals, they were "a first," but by then the music was ubiquitous, and the period instrument allure was not enough of a selling point (however interesting it might of been to those who already knew the music well).

[@andreashelling3076]

I think Fournier did a very important recording of the suites

[@jlaurson]

@@andreashelling3076 That's my reference to this day, even if I think it has been surpassed in some aspects. Gorgeous musicality and good sound - unlike Casals. (Which may have been my first recording of them, actually.)

[@jlaurson]

@@andreashelling3076 That's my reference to this day, even if I think it has been surpassed in some aspects. Gorgeous musicality and good sound - unlike Casals. (Which may have been my first recording of them, actually.)

[@supasayajinsongoku4464]

Whats the best recording of these suites

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

See reviews at Classicstoday.com.

[@anttivirolainen8223]

Simply for historical reasons, Casals' recordings cannot be overlooked. Personally, in recent years, I have enjoyed Ralph Kirshbaum's and Jean-Guihen Queyras' recordings the most.

[@ianson3]

Have to disagree with Dave on his aversion to sitting through a whole recital consisting of nothing but the Suites. I saw Alisa Weilerstein do the whole thing a few years ago, and was captivated from beginning to end. But disagreement is what makes markets, so....

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

www.classicstoday.com/review/alisa-weilersteins-solo-bach/?search=1

[@sleepjar7013]

Important Question: Is reference recordingocity one or two words?

[@klenaghanny]

I usually agree with you, but I think your assessment of Yo-Yo Ma playing the Bach cello suites in concert was overly harsh (“would rather commit suicide!”). I saw this concert at the Hollywood Bowl, a much more expansive venue than Carnegie (with far worst acoustics), and it was spellbinding. Yes, the suites are somewhat dull in spots but his command of the repertoire is amazing.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

If you were amazed, I can't argue. I find hearing all of these pieces in one go absolutely lethal.

[@klenaghanny]

@@DavesClassicalGuide fair enough! I am a pianist and have grown fonder of Bach as I’ve grown older. I remember when Andras Schiff played the entire Well-Tempered Clavier (over 2 concerts) at the London Proms. Despite his artistry, that was more difficult to listen to than the cello suites. That being said, I totally understand the “reference recording” concept and certainly am not arguing with your judgment there.

[@dizwell]

Of course you'd cite Casals, you US-worshipping music critic, you! Oh, wait... 😅 If your choice here doesn't demonstrate the vapidity of that sort of response you've recently had to put up with, I don't know what would.

[@robhaynes4410]

You should've said that it's George Szell. Show the haters what-for!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

You're right. It is kind of scary just how good he was, though.

[@robhaynes4410]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Agreed. And there have been conductors who are every bit as almost-always great. But they weren't recording at the times that the reference recordings canon was being set. If, for example, Blomstedt was 30 years younger & had done all his great recordings in the 60s, he'd probably be all over these lists. Szell & his talents were simply in the right time & place.

[@swcblad]

rosteopovitch all the way

[@paulbrower]

I have Casals. Starker, and Rostropovich. I also have two discs (effectively a set) by Bob van Asperen, and those are awful. The works are perfect for allowing cellists to be themselves because the music is deceptively simple. They are not the deep counterpoint characteristic of Bach, so some eccentricity is necessary for keeping them from being boring. There could be multiple diferent, satisying performanced based on what one wants at the time. van Asperen lets early-performance study guide him.... and such is a disaster because its literalism wrecks these works.