Six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012

Johann Sebastian Bach

cello

Pierre Fournier

1961 Stereo recording, very present and full.

Gil's top choice. The classic version among stereo accounts. Fournier plays masterfully with a beautiful tone, wonderful artistry, flexibility, and agility. An ideal starting point.

Apple Music

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

Jean-Guihen Queyras

2007

A more recent version with more agility and a more sparing, but beautiful and suave, tone. A good complement to Fournier.

Apple Music

Mstislav Rostropovich

1991 Digital sound.

Features Rostropovich's beautiful, velvety, large Russian sound. Less about agility and more for luxuriating in the sound in a straightforward manner.

Apple Music

Janos Starker

Early 60s Mercury Living Presence recording.

Vintage Mercury sound. The playing is a bit faster, very assertive, and imaginative.

Apple Music Label: Mercury

Maurice Gendron

Early 60s

A legato style where everything is more connected, real velvety and suave. Really elegant.

Apple Music

YouTube — Cello Suite No. 1 only.

Label: Philips

Pablo Casals

Late 30s Historic mono recording.

The really old classic from the person who discovered the Suites. A fantastic, thinking, ruminative artist. The proverbial artist in the dark room alone with his cello.

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Jean-Guihen Queyras

2023

A freer return to the suites, trying different interpretive ideas. Recommended alongside the earlier set for listeners who enjoy that individuality.

Apple Music — Complete 2023 set of the six suites. Label: harmonia mundi

Pieter Wispelwey

2012

Agile, clipped and assertive playing that brings out the dance character of the suites.

Apple Music