Bach: Cello Suites - Rohan de Saram [Blu-ray]

Rohan de Saram is one of the world’s most distinguished cellists. Born in Sheffield, UK, of Sinhalese parents, he began studying the cello at the age of nine with Martin Hohermann in Sri Lanka and aged eleven with Gaspar Cassado at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, At the age of sixteen, in 1956, he became the first winner of the Guilhermina Suggia Award which enabled him to study with Pablo Casals in Puerto Rico and with Sir John Barbirolli in London. In the same year he was winner of the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London and the following year was awarded the Harriet Cohen International Music Award. Casals said of him: “There are few of his generation that have such gifts”.

The four essential movements of the Suite as used by J.S. Bach are Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue. Between the Sarabande and the Gigue the so-called “galanteries” were placed. In the cello Suites these were Minuets I & II for Suites I & II, Bourrées I & II for Suites III and IV and Gavottes I and II for Suites V and VI. Considering the period of history in which we are living and the fact that a united Europe and its evolution is a prominent part of our political thinking, it is interesting to note that the form of the Suite is a microcosm of the idea: Allemande from Germany, Courante or Corrente from France or Italy, Sarabande from Spain, the “galanteries” from France, “galanteries” sometimes including Polonnaise from Poland and finally Gigue from Ireland or England.

Like the six so-called English Suites and the six Partitas, both written for keyboard, the six cello Suites each start with a substantial Prelude. It is interesting to know that the six Partitas formed the first of a four-part series published under the title “Clavierübung” or “Keyboard practice” or “Keyboard studies”. The rest of the series include such works as the Italian Concerto, French Overture and the Goldberg Variations not to mention the third part which includes some of Bach’s finest Chorale Preludes for organ. The idea of studying and practising written finger exercises merely in order to acquire technical dexterity was foreign to Bach and the period in which he lived.

Треклист:
Suite For Violoncello Solo Nr. 1 G-Dur Bwv 1007
Suite For Violoncello Solo Nr. 2 D-Moll Bwv 1008
Suite For Violoncello Solo Nr. 3 C-Dur Bwv 1009
Suite For Violoncello Solo Nr. 4 Es-Dur Bwv 1010
Suite For Violoncello Solo Nr. 5 C-Moll Bwv 1011
Suite For Violoncello Solo Nr. 6 D-Dur Bwv 1012