Yo-Yo Ma - Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites [Black] (3LP) Vinyl

Music On Vinyl's audiophile reissue of Yo-Yo Ma's complete recording of Bach's six suites for unaccompanied cello, originally released in 1983 on CBS Masterworks. The performance won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance in 1985.

The Music

The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007 to 1012, are Johann Sebastian Bach's suites for unaccompanied cello, most likely composed between 1717 and 1723 while he served as Kapellmeister at Köthen. Each suite is structured in six movements: a prelude, followed by an allemande, a courante, a sarabande, a pair of dances (two minuets, two bourrées or two gavottes), and a closing gigue.

Because of their technical demands and the discrepancies between the surviving manuscript copies, the suites were little known and rarely performed in public until Pablo Casals recorded them in the early twentieth century. They are now among the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for the cello.

This Edition

The complete cycle is spread across three LPs, one suite per side, running from the Suite No. 1 in G major on side A through to the Suite No. 6 in D major on side F. The records are pressed on 180 gram audiophile vinyl in standard black.

Packaging

The set is housed in a deluxe trifold gatefold sleeve with a gloss laminate finish and includes liner notes by Peter Eliot Stone. This Music On Vinyl edition carries catalogue number MOVCL062 and was released on 6 November 2020.