JS Bach: Cello Suites, BWV 1007 - 1012, 2 CD Set

This Double Fforte EMI Classics reissue presents the six Bach solo cello suites on 2 CDs and sells at mid-price. The music was recorded in 1984 by the cellist Heinrich Schiff. The suites are considered among the most profound of all classical works.

he recording is very good, the instrument well focused in the warm acoustic of the Evangelical Church of Seon, the ambience not being allowed to swamp detail with surplus reverberation. As for the performances: this is, however theoretically, dance music and Schiff, a musician whose ability is not in doubt, approaches the scores with considerable technical skill, though in places at such brisk tempos that the sense of rhythm is subsumed under the forward momentum. Schiff takes fractionally under 125 minutes to perform the 6 pieces, whilst many other musicians take 130 or even 140 minutes. However, what Schiff loses in grace he regains in drama, giving a somewhat stern though forceful account. This is considered musicianship and must be respected as the thoughts of a major solo performer one of Bach's greatest works.

Gary S. Dalkin