JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 1 G major for Cello solo, BWV 1007 Preludium: Allemande: Courante: Sarabanda: Menuett I. a II.: Gigue: Jan Škrdlík, Cello // Minor Brothers Church in Vranov u Brna, 3.17.1997 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 2 d minor for Cello solo, BWV 1008 Preludium: Allemande: Courante: Sarabanda: Menuett I. a II.: Gigue: Jan Škrdlík, Cello // Church of Bursfelde Abbey, Germany, 9.26. and 27.2007 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 3 C major for Cello solo, BWV 1009 Preludium: Allemande: Courante: Sarabanda: Bourée I. a II.: Gigue: Jan Škrdlík, Cello // Church of Bursfelde Abbey, Germany, 6.25. and 26.2013 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite No. 4 E flat major for Cello solo, BWV 1010 Preludium: Allemande: Courante: Sarabanda: Bourée I. a II.: Gigue: Jan Škrdlík, Cello // Church of Bursfelde Abbey, Germany, 8.17. – 19.2009 (Preludium: 6.26.2013)
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The Cello Suites by J. S. Bach • My interpretation of the Bach’s Cello Suites • The Six Suites for solo Cello that make up this double album were written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1717-1723 for Christian Ferdinand Abel, a colleague in the Köthen ensemble and a Viola da gamba player, who had decided to learn violoncello. In order to raise Abel’s technical standards, the Suites were composed in the style of today’s études, progressing from simple to difficult. The didactic aspect of these brilliant compositions proved so confusing for later generations of musicians that the score was long considered a set of technical exercises. It took some time for the world to discover the real depth of the Suites, despite the fact that in 1852 Robert Schumann tried to bring them centre stage by composing a piano accompaniment. In 1889, Spanish virtuoso Pablo Casals learnt of the Suites, and was so fascinated that he devoted an incredible twelve years to their study. In 1901, he gave his first performance of them in Barcelona and went on to introduce them to international audiences. The Suites are recognized today as the pinnacle of the violoncello oeuvre. My journey through the deeps of Bach’s music began in childhood. Miroslav Doležil, my violoncello teacher at primary school, was a student of Bohuš Heran, himself an ardent admirer and performer of Bach. At a time when Pablo Casals’ recordings of Bach were regarded as without peer, my teacher arrived at a different style of performing them, and in order to communicate it fully to me presented me with home-made tapes of Pablo Casals and János Starker. The object of the exercise was to let me see that Casals’s recordings were obsolete, and to steer me towards a more modern approach. The result, however, was just the opposite. While the warmth and imagination of Casals captivated me, the second tape struck my adolescent soul as cold and senseless and I could not listen to it. My older sister later discovered the Casals tape and thought it was a recording I had made of myself. She commented: “You’re playing that Bach well, but out of tune.” Although I didn’t choose a career straight after elementary school, and played the local folk scene when I was at grammar school, I practiced Bach’s Suites at home from time to time. I once took my violoncello to a folk concert and, hardly surprisingly, I was asked to play something. I therefore kicked off with what was closest to me – Bach’s Suite Nr. 1 in G major. The interest that this composition inspired in my companions (otherwise absolutely untouched by serious music) and my own feeling of success, surprised and touched me so deeply that they provided the final push to enroll at the conservatory, something that I would have refused to do a few years before. I was seventeen at the time. Later, once my school studies were over, I included Bach’s Suites in my solo concerts whenever circumstances allowed. I don’t know how many interpretations of them I have done (it probably runs to three figures rather than two), but one of them was especially important – a concert with the German cembalist Barbara Maria Willi in 1995. As part of the program, I introduced the Suite No 1 in G major. In the audience was Prof. Dr. Jürgen Costede, President of the Deutsche Musikinstrumentenstiftung, an organization dedicated to period instruments based in Göttingen, himself eminent and recognized in the field of stringed instruments and well-known for his exceptional feel for them and audio recordings of them. My performance left such a deep impression on him that, after some time had passed, the thought occurred to him of recording a Suite with me – the one he had heard at the concert. The recording was made in 1997 in the Cathedral of the Order of St. Paul in Vranov u Brna and I played my own violoncello which was made by Adam Emanuel Homolka in 1842. This recording was soon to be joined by others as, over the years, the idea of recording more Suites with me, each interpreted in a different place with a different instrument, crystallized. In 2000, we completed a recording of the Suite No. 5 in C minor in the Romanesque church of the Bursfelde monastery. It was played on an instrument made by Vincenzo Trusiano Panormo (fecit / Anno 1774 / Armi di Palermo). The third in the sequence, the Suite No. 3 in C major, was recorded the following year in Santini’s church at Zelená hora, near Žďár nad Sázavou, performed on an instrument by Carlo Tononi Bolognese (Fece in Venezia /A: 1728). The last two instruments were loaned by the Deutsche Musikinstrumentenstiftung. In 2002, the recordings were put together and released by Gnosis. The CD of Bach’s Suites was very well received (the first release sold out, as did the next), which encouraged us to continue with the remaining three. Prof. Costede chose the acoustics of the Bursfelde monastery as he considered the place most suitable; it was also close to his house in Göttingen. The hospitality of Prof. Costede and his wife Sabina played an important part in the overall atmosphere, and also of the recordings. An overview of the individual recordings, arranged by the catalogue number of each suite, appears below. All the instruments, apart from my own (Suite No. 1 G major), were loaned by the Deutsche Musik-instrumentenstiftung. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SUITE Nr. 2 D MINOR, BWV 1008 ↑ Page Up ↑ SUITE Nr. 3 C MAJOR, BWV 1009 ↑ Page Up ↑ SUITE Nr. 4 ES MAJOR, BWV 1010 ↑ Page Up ↑ SUITE Nr. 5 C MINOR, BWV 1011 ↑ Page Up ↑ SUITE Nr. 6 D MAJOR, BWV 1012 ↑ Page Up ↑ Jan Škrdlík
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