The Six Cello Suites

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J. S. BACH
The Six Cello Suites
Viola De Hoog (cellos)

[ Vivat / 2 CD ]

Release Date: Friday 5 December 2014

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Seventh release on the VIVAT label features the greatest of all solo cello masterworks, Johann Sebastian Bach's extraordinary Six Suites for Solo Cello. Unique in the solo repertoire, Bach's six suites represent the musical summit for all cellists.

For three decades, renowned Dutch cellist Viola de Hoog has straddled the worlds of both period instrument performance - playing as soloist and principal cellist with many of Europe's greatest historic instrument orchestras - and also the 'modern' world, playing cello for twenty years in the world-famous Schönberg Quartet.

For this recording, Viola de Hoog plays a remarkable baroque cello from 1750 by the great Italian maker, Guadagnini - an instrument perfect for Bach's music. For the sixth suite, which demands a five-string cello, she plays an equally unusual Bohemian instrument dating from the late 18th century.

Recorded in the perfect acoustic of the Oude Dorpskerk, Bunnik - a historic Dutch church which has hosted many fine period instrument recordings - by distinguished engineer Adriaan Verstijnen.

Extensive presentation includes 48 page booklet with authoritative liner note in four languages (English, Dutch, French & German) by renowned Bach expert Prof. Greta Haenen, together with session photographs, and reproductions from Anna Magdalena Bach's manuscript. The recording is excellent value, with two full CDs for the price of one.

"The Prelude of the First Suite is unusually spacious...But it's in the dances that de Hoog is outstanding. They retain their essential character...but they're full of nuances in rhythm and phrasing...The playing is full of understated imaginative detail...among the very best of the 42 versions I find I've accumulated over the years." (Five Stars BBC Music Christmas 2014)