℗ 2023 Centaur Records J.s. Bach: Cello Suite Nos. 1 6, Bwv 1007 1012 (arr. For Violin by Tomás Cotik) Tomás Cotik

Nobody knows why Johann Sebastian Bach composed his six suites for solo cello. Nor does anybody know how it came about that the suites were soon afterwards consigned to oblivion and more than a century before a 13-year-old Spanish musical prodigy discovered a worn copy of the score in a second-hand bookstore store in Bar- celona. For the next 11 years Pablo Casals practiced them every day. Finally, in 1936, he entered London’s Abbey Road studios to record the second and third suites for the first time. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Bach’s cello suites have become a rite of passage for all aspiring cellists.

The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. They are some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello. Bach most likely composed them during the period 1717–1723, when he served as Kapellmeister in Köthen. The title given on the cover of the Anna Magdalena Bach manuscript was Suites à Violoncello Solo senza Basso (Suites for cello solo without bass).

The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. They are some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello. Bach most likely composed them during the period 1717–1723, when he served as Kapellmeister in Köthen. The title given on the cover of the Anna Magdalena Bach manuscript was Suites à Violoncello Solo senza Basso (Suites for cello solo without bass).

Johann Sebastian Bach’s six suites for solo cello are among the best known and most difficult compositions in the musical repertoire. Miklós Perényi, one of the greatest cellists of his generation, and a world-famous exponent of his instrument, recorded these masterpieces for Hungaroton 40 years ago.

The Six Suites for Solo Cello by J S Bach composed around 1720, are generally regarded as the first and greatest masterpieces ever written for the instrument.Their scope is vast and ingenious. Although most of the time, only one note is played, occasional chords and masterful melodies imply harmony and counterpoint.

The Bach Cello Suites are an iconic monument of the literature with which any serious cellist must grapple. Performances can vary from the metronomically precise just-play-the-notes approach to the other extreme in which a player's idiosyncratic interpretations are so pronounced that they become the center of attention rather than Bach's sublime music. This 2010 version is French cellist Ophélie Gaillard's second recording of the suites, the first made a decade earlier when she was in her mid-twenties.

In the music of Bach, the Italian violist Simone Libralon has found a lifelong companion, who ‘unfailingly touches that emotional chord we need in the varied and contrasting moments of human experience - a safe haven reserved for intimate spirituality.’

When one glances at the list of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), one realizes that his instrumental output, particularly that for orchestra or chamber ensemble, is very small. The thematic catalogue of his works lists some 1,080 entries. Of these, one-half comprises sacred vocal and/or choral music, and one-quarter comprises solo organ music.

Released in celebration of the great Russian pianist’s 80th birthday (06 July) this set of the French Suites continues Ashkenazy’s extraordinary journey through the major keyboard works of JS Bach.

Debut album by the next young and talented violinist on Deutsche Grammophon, following the successful footsteps of Anne-Sophie Mutter and David Garrett who both joined the label as youngsters.