Wolfgang Boettcher - Bach: Suites for Solo Cello (2008)

Tracklist

01. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prelude
02. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: II. Allemande
03. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: III. Courante
04. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: IV. Sarabande
05. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: V. Menuet I - Menuet II
06. Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: VI. Gigue
07. Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Prelude
08. Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: II. Allemande
09. Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: III. Courante
10. Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: IV. Sarabande
11. Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: V. Menuet I - Menuet II
12. Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: VI. Gigue
13. Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: I. Prelude
14. Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: II. Allemande
15. Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: III. Courante
16. Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: IV. Sarabande
17. Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: V. Bourrée I - Bourrée II
18. Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: VI. Gigue
19. Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: I. Praeludium
20. Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: II. Allemande
21. Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: III. Courante
22. Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: IV. Sarabande
23. Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: V. Bourrée I - Bourrée II
24. Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: VI. Gigue
25. Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: I. Prelude
26. Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: II. Allemande
27. Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: III. Courante
28. Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: IV. Sarabande
29. Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: V. Gavotte I - Gavotte II
30. Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: VI. Gigue
31. Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: I. Prelude
32. Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: II. Allemande
33. Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: III. Courante
34. Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: IV. Sarabande
35. Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: V. Gavotte I - Gavotte II
36. Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: VI. Gigue

Like many of Bach’s most significant instrumental works, the six Cello Suites were composed between 1717 and 1723, when he was Kapellmeister in Köthen. As far as is known, this is the most technically demanding music written for the cello up to that point, and it remains one of the greatest challenges—and at the same time one of the greatest aesthetic triumphs—of the entire cello repertoire.

Although Bach’s primary motivation was to explore the full potential of the instrument, it is likely that he was encouraged in this endeavor by the presence in Köthen of one or more exceptionally skilled players, perhaps one of the outstanding court cellists or gamba players such as Carl Friedrich Abel or, more likely, Christian Bernhard Linigke.

The cello suites may have been completed around the time he married his second wife, Anna Magdalena, in 1721 (four fair copies of the suites have survived, one of them in her handwriting). It is hard to imagine that Bach had a model for these unique pieces, but the solo works in Heinrich Biber’s *Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa*, with which he was likely familiar (this collection was published in Nuremberg in 1712), may have provided him with some ideas ...