Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I. Prelude
2. II. Allemande
3. III. Courante
4. IV. Sarabande
5. V. Menuet I
6. VI. Menuet II
7. VII. Gigue
8. I. Praeludium
9. II. Allemande
10. III. Courante
11. IV. Sarabande
12. V. Bourree I
13. VI. Bourree II
14. VII. Gigue
15. I. Prelude
16. II. Allemande
17. III. Courante
18. IV. Sarabande
19. V. Gavotte I
20. VI. Gavotte II
21. VII. Gigue

Disc 2:

1. I. Prelude
2. II. Allemande
3. III. Courante
4. IV. Sarabande
5. V. Menuet I
6. VI. Menuet II
7. VII. Gigue
8. I. Prelude
9. II. Allemande
10. III. Courante
11. IV. Sarabande
12. V. Bourree I
13. VI. Bourree II
14. VII. Gigue
15. I. Prelude
16. II. Allemande
17. III. Courante
18. IV. Sarabande
19. V. Gavotte I
20. VI. Gavotte II
21. VII. Gigue

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4937 in Music
• Released on: 2004-08-02
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Unsurpassed Masterclass in Technique
As an ex professional 'cellist myself I'm more than familiar with these suites by Bach. Their content is detailed in other reviews - here I wish to comment just on Tortelier's interpretation.

One of the greatest things about the suites is that they are so flexible to player's interpretation and Tortelier makes this abundantly clear with the opening bars of the prelude to the first suite. His technique is astounding, precise, lyrical and beautiful. The music literally dances in novel and previously unimagined ways that blows me away every time I hear it.

Yo Yo Ma's extremely accomplished suites are lush and beautiful but sound flat, dull and unimaginative by comparison. Rostropovich's suites sound ham fisted, bullying the music out of the instrument without the dexterity or refinement of Tortelier. Even the god-like Casals would have to admit that Tortelier's account of this incredible music puts more depth into every note than even he could manage.

Buy this record. Buy it for anyone that has ever known the suites and especially buy it for anyone that already owns a copy by another 'cellist. Any 'cellist. If he recorded no other record in his lifetime this recording alone would mark him out as a genius. If each piece is a song then Tortelier turns them into Operas.

Don't take my word for it. Listen for yourself. I swear that afterwards you'll be compelled to write something similar here!

PROFOUNDLY HUMAN(IST) PERFORMANCES
It's surprising how very different interpretations of these amazing solo works can each convince you that, yes, that's the way they should go. Certainly, with Bach's Cello Suites as with Shakespeare's Cleopatra, custom cannot stale their infinite variety. Casals, their rediscoverer, brought his inimitable mix of style and passion to them. Rostropovich seemed to chisel them out of the rock like some marmoreal Michelangelo statue. For some cellists, they are towering and grandiloquent. For others, they are intimate and personal. Some emphasise the joy of the dance movements, others the intensity of the sarabandes, others still apply the strictest theories of authentic period performance to them.

Anyone of a certain age will recall the passionate commitment to these Suites shown by a highly charismatic Tortelier in his TV masterclasses of 50 years or so ago. That same commitment shines through these performances from the 70's. These are readings where you can take technique for granted. What's more important, Tortelier allows the infinite variety of the Suites themselves and each of the movements within them to speak their own language. There's charm, wit, humour, beauty, emotion, spirituality as it's called for. Tortelier understands that these are dance suites, but that they also encapsulate great profundity in their notes. If I had to sum up his interpretations in one word, it would be their `humanity'. And that seems particularly right for the secular works Bach wrote with such obvious pleasure while he was at the court of the young Prince Leopold in Cothen. Away from the world of church services, Bach produced works that were just as profound in a different, I'm tempted to say more human, certainly more humanist way. That is something that seems particularly close to Tortelier's heart and thinking. And it comes out wonderfully in these performances.

Great recordings from the last Century

These recordings from 1983 were originally available as two separate CDs, which is how I first came to hear them. They are now available on the EMI Classics label as `Great Recordings of the Century'.

These works, like much of Bach's music, were long neglected during the Romantic and Modern periods as being too dry, academic and old-fashioned. They are now sitting happily at the centre of Bach's many compositions for solo instruments and are considered to be some of the finest works ever written for the solo cello.

The return to popularity, if in fact they were ever really popular in Bach's time, must be attributed to Pablo Casals (1876-1973) who picked up the manuscripts of this work and brought the music to life, and into the public domain once again thanks in no small part to his profile as one of the great modern cello virtuosos.

Since this renewed interest there have been transcriptions for other solo instruments such as viola, bass, guitar, horn saxophone and trombone, but none of these compare to the solo cello versions.

These Tortelier recordings remain the benchmark, despite competition from the likes of Starker, Fournier, Schiff, Harrell, Kirshbaum, Gendron, Wispelwey and Ma.

I bought these recordings during the 1980s when my enthusiasm for Bach was still in its infancy, my appreciation at that time being limited simply to the `Brandenburgs' and a few violin concertos. But such was the impact that these most intimate and emotional works had on me, I was compelled to search for more of the composer's music.

It's thanks to these recordings that I have come to admire and appreciate Bach's music.