Thomas Demenga - J.S. Bach: Préludes & Sarabandes (2017) [Hi-Res]

Swiss cellist Thomas Demenga returns to Bach’s suites. “To me, Bach is the greatest musical genius who has ever lived. His music is pure, sublime. It possesses something divine and each musician has a lifetime in which to discover new ways of interpreting it.” Demenga previously recorded the cello suites for ECM between 1986 and 2002, juxtaposing them with contemporary composition in albums that count as milestones in the early history of the New Series. This new double album however is devoted entirely to Bach and the six suites. Many years of playing and studying every aspect of them, from source manuscripts to different tempos, embellishments, fingerings and bowings, have brought Demenga to the heart of the music – which Bach himself described as the only goal. This new account of the music was recorded at the Hans Huber Saal in Basel.

Recorded at the Hans Huber Saal in Basel, this double album documents Thomas Demenga’s second reckoning with the Bach cello suites on ECM. The Swiss cellist previously recorded them between 1986 and 2002, juxtaposing them with contemporary composition (by Elliott Carter, Heinz Holliger, Sandor Veress, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Toshio Hosokawa and Isang Yun) in a series of albums which count as milestones in the early history of the New Series. (Elliott Carter wrote that he had “never heard the Bach C Major suite played so understandingly and so convincingly.”)

Demenga has spent many years playing and studying every aspect of the Bach cello suites pieces, from source manuscripts to different tempos, embellishments, fingerings and bowings, in the quest to interpret the works faithfully. His considerations and findings are discussed in the liner notes by Thomas Meyer, translated into English by Paul Griffiths.

Thomas Demenga, cello