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Bach Cello Suites (2024)
- gregorymichael 1y agoI love this so much, as someone who tends to listen to a single piece of music on repeat (especially while coding) and has spent a lot of time with Yo-Yo Ma's "Six Evolutions". Loved learning about the deep diversity of recordings from other artists, the ambiguous history of the music, and that there's a question if the music was even originally written for a cello! Also loved that the site recommends different recordings based on the mood of interpretation. This all reminds me of the HN favorite, "Reality has a lot of detail." Feel like I just discovered fractal complexity in a piece of music I naively thought I knew well.
- jacquesm 1y agoDifferent renderings of classical pieces can be night-and-day difference. There are some pieces that have been worn grey from over exposure and then you hear that one special version and it's like it is a completely new piece all over again.
- jojobas 1y agohttps://xkcd.com/915/ https://xkcd.com/915/
- lukan 1y agoNope. Really does not apply here.
- KaiserPro 1y agoAs someone who grew up bathed in baroque orchestral and medieval choral music, I can imagine that to the outside this applies. after all a genre that you're not familiar with tends to sound the same.
- kashunstva 1y ago…which of course is a good reminder not to make assumptions about domains in which one has limited or no knowledge. I too have spent my entire life in classical music - I’m a collaborative pianist. But I have to guard against making judgements about popular genres which I don’t regularly listen to.
- jacquesm 1y agoXKCD is just a high brow version of the reaction gif. But it carries just as much value.
- vunderba 1y agoNow just imagine you lived during the romantic period of music where the virtuoso's highly personal interpretation of the piece was not only encouraged - it was downright expected. Even today where the printed note is considered sacrosanct - you'll still find that artists are able to inject quite a bit of their own personality into a piece. Great example is the Well-Tempered Clavier as performed by Glenn Gould versus Sviatoslav Richter.
- nullhole 1y agoDvorak's cello concerto in b minor, Rostropovich vs Yo-Yo Ma (I'm strongly in the Rostropovich camp, myself)
- graycat 1y agoSome Rostropovich, second movement of the Dvorak Cello Concerto, as at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyAMvctMEbI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyAMvctMEbI
- koverstreet 1y agoJacqueline du Pré played this with fire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_yxtaeFuEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_yxtaeFuEQ
- djtango 1y agoDespite all that I still find myself so drawn to interpretations by Rubinstein and Perahia that prize themselves on their restraint. Although Argerich is my goddess so who knows
- esafak 1y agoVivaldi's Four Seasons is like that for me; it has to be completely re-imagined, like Max Richter's "Recomposed", to pique my interest.
- jacquesm 1y agoTry this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8zbPcuIvSM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8zbPcuIvSM
- kleton 1y agoThe Ivry Gitlis interpretation of the chaconne is wild
- mtalantikite 1y agoMy year in review music roundups from Spotify or Apple Music have always been totally useless because I code to Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians almost daily. Something about that composition just gets me in the zone and I've been using it to study or work to since I first heard it in college 20+ years ago.
- gregorymichael 1y agoI’m listening to this now for the first time now. Somehow I had never heard of him. Thank you. I sense this music will be with me for a long time.
- mtalantikite 1y agoOh great, I'm glad! I vividly remember the first time a friend that was studying 18 Musicians for a class at Berklee came over to my apartment with the original ECM vinyl and we just sat there silently listening for the hour. I don't think I'll ever grow tired of listening to it.
- JSR_FDED 1y agoErik Satie does that for me
- mtalantikite 1y agoI should try coding to Vexations sometime, it could last me the whole work day!
- kristianp 1y ago"Reality has a surprising amount of detail" (2017): 7 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43087779 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43087779 8 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16184255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16184255 6 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22020495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22020495 2 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38407851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38407851
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- pimeys 1y agoI can highly recommend the William Skeen recordings of the Cello Suites, recorded and released by one of the best classical labels: Reference Recordings. You get the historically informed sound and the absolute best sound quality in one package. https://referencerecordings.com/recording/the-six-cello-suites-of-j-s-bach/ https://referencerecordings.com/recording/the-six-cello-suit...
- edbaskerville 1y agoOh, it's...very new! Thanks for the recommendation. Another recommendation: the recordings by the multigenre saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu. It's insane. I won't give anything away, but in particular set aside some time to listen to the Menuets & Gigue from the first suite without any distractions. https://yasuaki-shimizu.com/music/cello-suites-2/ https://yasuaki-shimizu.com/music/cello-suites-2/ I'm a cellist, played all the suites and always start with them when I return to the instrument after a hiatus. They've been analyzed to death, so my goal when playing is to avoid over-intellectualizing ("learn the changes, then forget them") and just try to take a different emotional journey each time (no way to say that without it sounding sappy), physically leading with my breath.
- pimeys 1y agoI get sometimes a bit annoyed by hacker news. And then I get a reply from a cellist. Thank you for playing and making this world a bit better place, you made my day.
- edbaskerville 1y agoMy pleasure! I also get annoyed. :) But I appreciate how it helps keep me up to date on how the kids are progamming their computers. (Too complicatedly, I think.) So I comment almost exclusively on music and 90s Mac nostalgia.
- Slow_Hand 1y agoWow. Thank you. I love Yasuaki Shimizu, but was not aware of these recordings. I'm going to jump in right now.
- arduanika 1y agoBeautiful pieces. My understanding is that for centuries after Bach's death, they were disregarded. They were seen almost as etudes, for cellists to use for practice to hone their technique. They didn't really gain their current status as respectable concert pieces until Pablo Casals dug them up in the early 20th century and produced his classic recordings.
- kashunstva 1y ago> they were disregarded. As were the Partitas and Sonatas for unaccompanied violin. It wasn’t until the great 19th century violinist Joachim began playing them in recitals that they came to light again. Even then it was not widely accepted. I believe it may have been George Bernard Shaw who had pretty harsh words to say about the very idea of treating these works seriously. My daughter is preparing for her conservatory auditions; and these works are now compulsory literally everywhere!
- bratsche 1y agoI play viola, and usually it's only the cello suites that are played on viola. But I fell in love with the sonatas and partitas. They're just incredible. The only one that I ever learned fully and performed was the second partita. Of course, on viola you have to play them down a 5th but they still work beautifully and sound great.
- kashunstva 1y ago> I play viola Username checks out.
- cousin_it 1y agoYes! The Gavotte en Rondeau from the 3rd Partita is probably my favorite Bach piece, beating out even the cello suites. Here's a lovely performance by Kavakos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNy9fH7VaV4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNy9fH7VaV4
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- taejavu 1y agoWhat a great resource! Took me a minute to find their actual recommendations without having to read each review, which is here: https://bachcellosuites.co.uk/bach-cello-suites-home/favourite-five/ https://bachcellosuites.co.uk/bach-cello-suites-home/favouri...
- throw0101d 1y agoIn the 1990s Yo-Yo Ma collaborated with artists in different fields to try to "translate" them to different forms of art: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspired_by_Bach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspired_by_Bach If you're in Toronto, Canada, you can visit the park that was inspired by No. 1: * https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-recreation/places-spaces/parks-and-recreation-facilities/location/?id=1707&title=Toronto-Music-Garden https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-recreation/places... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Music_Garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Music_Garden
- Sparkle-san 1y agoI asked Claude Code who the greatest composer of all time was (mostly on a lark) expecting something very non-committal that weighed the accomplishments of the various great composers. Instead, I got back a one word answer: Bach.
- phoh 1y agoregular claude is not so concise, or decisive
- madcaptenor 1y agoThe most recent episode of the excellent classical music podcast "Sticky Notes" is comparing several recordings of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony: https://stickynotespodcast.libsyn.com/100-years-of-beethovens-eroica-recordings https://stickynotespodcast.libsyn.com/100-years-of-beethoven...
- alkyon 1y agoThanks! Never heard of this podcast, quite interesting. Comparing various recordings is a rabbit hole I like falling into.
- djtango 1y agoAlso take a look at CD Review / Building a Library by the BBC
- kjellsbells 1y agoAlso Dave Hurwitz on YouTube, who combines a love of the material with a healthy disrespect for the poseur side of classical music fandom
- antognini 1y agoThe Bach Cello Suites are deservedly famous, but if you are looking to branch out to other solo cello music I recommend listening to Zoltan Kodály's Sonata for Unaccompanied Cello. After the Bach Cello Suites it is probably the most important piece in the solo cello repertoire. One of the unusual features of the piece is that it calls for the bottom two strings to be tuned down half a step which gives the cello a darker timbre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phygv_Et9sQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phygv_Et9sQ
- edvardas 1y agoWhen tuning down those two strings, would the player need to "relearn" the positions of fingers on the strings when playing? Or would they play at the same positions and ignore the conflict in expected and actual sound?
- edbaskerville 1y agoThe linkage between hand position and visual location on the staff is so hard to relearn for someone that only plays one instrument that the music is written so that notes to be played on the B string (the C tuned down) and the F# string (the G tuned down) are written with incorrect pitches. That is, an actual D# played on the actual B string is written as an E on the staff. It's weird to learn the Kodaly this way, but the piece is hard enough that, at least in my case, I basically have to memorize it to have a fighting chance. I still haven't performed it for a real concert after 20 years of thinking about doing so. This also creates some ambiguities, since you can play many notes on either the F# string or the D string. But context is enough to tell what Kodaly meant. Relatedly, the fifth Bach suite is also written for an alternate tuning ("scordatura"), with the same "wrong note" approach to notation (at least in modern editions). The A string is tuned down to a G, giving you beautifully transformed resonances for the key of C minor.
- dbalatero 1y ago> This also creates some ambiguities, since you can play many notes on either the F# string or the D string. But context is enough to tell what Kodaly meant. I found that sticking to the edited score's III/IV markings gets you in the right zone–there's enough other things to figure out haha.
- Gehinnn 1y agoI wish Spotify would allow me to easily compare the same classical pieces with different recordings!
- diego_moita 1y agoThe Netherlands Bach Society [1] has an ongoing project of recording all of Bach's works and making them available for free. They also have a YouTube channel [2] [1] https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach [2] https://m.youtube.com/bach https://m.youtube.com/bach
- doo_daa 1y agoI was going to share this but you beat me to it. I stumbled across this a few weeks ago. What an amazing resource.
- dublin 1y agoFYI, We just had world-class cellist Steuart Pincombe here in Austin last month performing the last three Bach cello concertos along with three matched brews from the excellent local Lazarus brewery as part of his occcasional "Bach and Beer" performances. He's a flat amazing cellist, and watching him perform that last concerto you really realize how hard he's working to get it done - it's a workout. Anyway, it was a really good evening. (FWIW, this was part of the Arts On Alexander program this year, which is one of Austin's lesser known gems of amazing live classical music performaces.
- graycat 1y agoSome good Bach: Rostropovich Prelude from Bach Cello Suite No.1 BWV 1007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml14kGHCBg0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml14kGHCBg0 Also Maurice Gendron as at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDPdCJ7nVss&list=PLuc6tv6pjLtqJRc9RPmKiJJGvNx_3MGov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDPdCJ7nVss&list=PLuc6tv6pjL... This piece can also do well on violin -- just transpose up an octave and a fifth. I did that on violin, and it was easy, but making really good music out of it, as Rostropovich, is different. For a violin performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3a9F-LEdiA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3a9F-LEdiA
- j7ake 1y agoAre there links to YouTube videos of recordings? Or do I need to find it elsewhere ?
- auxym 1y agoThe Netherlands Bach Society has actually started a huge project to produce high quality video recordings to all of Bach's catalogue. You can find the videos on their YT channel (https://www.youtube.com/bach https://www.youtube.com/bach) or www.allofbach.com. I'm pretty sure I learned about this project from HN many, many years ago.
- nathan_douglas 1y agoOne of the pages mentioned a 'cello da spalla, which I hadn't heard of before, so I found this YouTube video introducing it and playing part of a prelude on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD4kNY34AoE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD4kNY34AoE I enjoy instruments that, for whatever reason, seem to have been discarded by progress - viola da gamba, mandolincello, etc. It's amazing how rich all of our musical traditions are, that we have so many delightful variations on so many lovely ideas.
- cml123 1y agoSince you mention the viola da gamba, I'll mention that in the US, the Viola da Gamba Society of America[0] is keeping the tradition alive. I'm a rusty cellist and learned of the vdgsa a few years ago. They have an annual conclave for players of all levels to learn, play, and have a good time. There was a conclave about 2.5 hrs from my home, and it was advertised as free for beginners, with the option to rent an instrument for the duration of the event across ~ a week. I also play the bass guitar and double bass, which like the gamba family are tuned in fourths vs fifths for the violin family, so I figured I'd show up and try my hand at the instrument. They are a friendly and welcoming community maintaining a rental network in the US for the different types of violas da gamba. They have a strong interest as an organization in funding the continued scholarship, performance, and community for these forgotten instruments. It was very cool. I've since gotten my hands on a rental bass viol, though I haven't had as much time for it as I'd like. [0] https://www.vdgsa.org/ https://www.vdgsa.org/
- nathan_douglas 1y agoAh, that's really cool and I'm going to stay the hell away lest it trigger my GAS :P
- bwv848 1y agoIMO Rostropovich and Jian Wang[1] have the best recordings, two sides of the same coin. I never understand the hype of Yo-Yo Ma. And if you like Jian Wang, you would probably also like Viktoria Mullova's interpretation of Sonatas and Partitas [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCSqHFgSUhU&list=PL8Hi9pw3gEfT-UsYlHo8CocApg7EbsRGs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCSqHFgSUhU&list=PL8Hi9pw3gE...
- non-nil 1y agoI'm also very fond of Jian Wang's recording! Thanks for the recommendations, I've found some of Viktoria Mullova's Vivaldi renditions[1] refreshing. [1] https://viktoriamullova.com/albums/vivaldi-violin-concertos/ https://viktoriamullova.com/albums/vivaldi-violin-concertos/
- thom 1y agoShouting into the void no doubt, but there are few things in life that make me more disappointed than people extending that first note in the first cello suite. The prelude is a thing of such crystalline beauty and I have no problem with you elaborating on it later, but the way literally everyone plays it is jarring right out of the gate. Anyway, while we're at it, if you like your cello with a little bit more welly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUgdbqt2ON0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUgdbqt2ON0
- AvAn12 1y agoWonderful “extracurricular” articles like this are one of my favorite things about HN. Thanks!!
- lagrange77 1y agoAwesome, i love listening to Bach while developing. While you're here, what other classical music can you recommend, especially for listening while working/focusing? For me, it's currently - Max Richter, discovered recently and he is fantastic - The 'New Classical Essentials' playlist in Apple Music - Brahms, especially String Sextet No. 1 (warning: can make Vulcans cry)
- edbaskerville 1y agoI wish I could listen to classical music while using my brain. I can't. I end up listening to the music. I've been listening to Scarlatti keyboard sonatas recently. They're great. He was born the same year as Bach.
- kjellsbells 1y agoI love the Schubert song cycles, like Winterreise. There's enough overall stability to get into flow state but variety across each song. I'm probably a dinosaur but I have yet to find a version better than the very old Fischer-Dieskau/Gerald Moore combo.
- philip1209 1y agoI feel offended that Casals didn't make the "favorite recordings" section: https://bachcellosuites.co.uk/bach-cello-suites-home/favourite-five/ https://bachcellosuites.co.uk/bach-cello-suites-home/favouri... He's the godfather of the Bach suites. All other recordings are derivative. I would appreciate a breakdown of metal vs gut strings in the recordings.
- djtango 1y agoAs someone who listens to a lot of "Classical" music (more late Classical, early Romantic if we're being specific) I've never really understood the modern universal appeal of Bach. I find so much of his music quite impenetrable and kind of overwhelming. Things like the Cello Suites with their single line of music very demure. Whenever I try to listen to the Well Tempered Klavier as a set I'm quickly saturated by the third or fourth pair... It's usually not until I sit down at the piano and play Bach and read the score that I'm then suddenly profoundly moved by the almost divine quality of his music and the "just so" genius writing of his music. But being truly honest I struggle to hear it at face value often - am I just slow / a poor listener?
- f5ve 1y agoI agree. I also get much more out of playing Bach than listening to him. I almost never listen to Bach for pleasure, but I know a few fugues and the like. Playing them makes you feel like a god; listening to them feels like an assault. The exception, for me, is the Goldberg Variations which I find have a stately and refined beauty. It's one of very few in the classical canon that I find myself returning to over the years.
- ternaryoperator 1y agoYou're not alone. The British composer Arnold Bax once said "All Bach's last movements are like the running of a sewing machine." That being said, I find his six sonatas and partitas for solo violin to be absolutely lumninous. The famous chaconne being truly sublime.
- kjellsbells 1y ago> am I just slow / a poor listener? Don't fall into that trap. You like what you like. Bach wrote hundreds of pieces. There's no reason for anyone to "get" or "like" them all, or indeed any single one of them. Personally, I like some of the piano and cello pieces but they only get played once or twice a year. Whereas his vocal works like the St John Passion and Ich habe genug from cantata BWV82 get played a lot. Everyone is different!
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- __df__ 1y agonumber of bach cello suite recordings by decade parsed from the 'a-z' page: 1940s | # (n=1) (* Casals, 1948) 1950s | ## (n=4) 1960s | ##### (n=10) 1970s | ####### (n=14) 1980s | ######## (n=16) 1990s | ###################### (n=41) 2000s | ############################## (n=57) 2010s | ################################################## (n=92) 2020s | ################### (n=35) (*) notable recording