Each of the cello suites begins with a prelude, followed by a series of movements named after dances but not always especially danceable; Bach treated these forms with great flexibility. Balanced in sound, perfectly attuned to each other, the version reveals new sides to these works, and the pianists equally do justice to the solos as well as the tutti with four hands, so that it would be a real pleasure for Bach. These suites also resemble the Baroque French keyboard suite typified by the generation of composers including Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, and the dance-suite tradition of French lutenists that preceded it. Bach would probably have approved; as shown by his Well-Tempered Clavier, the purposes of music-making and technical studies can often overlap, so a project with a foot in both worlds can boast a good pedigree. Given her experience in both playing and transcribing Bach, these [Stepping Stones to Bach] arrangements are excellent, retaining a clear sense of the original while offering early to intermediate pianists the opportunity to play interesting and imaginative stand-alone pieces.”, “Eleonor Bindman has done a wonderful job for many musicians with her “Brandenburg Duets” project: a transcription of Bach’s Concertos Bach for 4 hands… The result is playfully as fresh and new as authentic and convincing. If this arrangement helps someone along this path, my goal will be accomplished.”. These pieces certainly make excellent technical exercises, but they can also shift the attention from mechanics to cultivating tone and expression, to training the ear. … The resulting musical statement may be a faithful reproduction …, a transformation beyond recognition or something in between. 4, for example, is notably idiomatic for the piano – doubly so on Bindman’s richly resonant Bösendorfer – despite being a difficult key for the work’s original instrument. In the English Suites especially, Bach's affinity with French lute music is demonstrated by his inclusion of a prelude for each suite, departing from an earlier tradition of German derivations of French suite (those of Johann Jakob Froberger and Georg Boehm are examples), which saw a relatively strict progression of the dance movements (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue) and which did not typically feature a Prelude. By: Rosalyn Tureck From the Rosalyn Tureck Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. Approaches can be as diverse as Bach’s body of work, depending on the form of the original composition, the designated instrumentation and the goal of the arranger. Read more on the Brandenburg Duets Project page, “The Six Solo Cello Suites are some of the most celebrated and much-loved works in the classical repertoire, and they continue to fascinate and inspire performers and audiences alike. On the heels of the recent recording – “breathtaking in its sheer precision and vitality” (Pianist magazine) – of her own transcription for four-hands piano of J.S. Surface characteristics of the English Suites strongly resemble those of Bach's French Suites and Partitas, particularly in the sequential dance-movement structural organization and treatment of ornamentation. Another of Bindman’s recent projects was the publication of a piano book called Stepping Stones to Bach – 24 intermediate piano arrangements of the Baroque master’s most famous tunes – that included three movements from the cello suites and proved to be a stepping stone to the transcription of the entire set. His output, studied by the greatest composers and the youngest apprentices alike, has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration, imitation and renewal. This suite also departs from the scheme of the other five, in that the prelude is short and based on a theme from a suite by Dieupart. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, pianist Eleonor Bindman has now completed a new project: a solo piano transcription and recording of all six of Bach’s suites for unaccompanied cello. In some cases the mechanics of the piano affected her interpretation: for example, she tended toward slightly faster tempos than a cellist would be inclined to take. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., 1954, Works for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach printed during his lifetime, International Music Score Library Project, Toccata and Fugue in D minor ("Dorian"), BWV 538, Fantasia and Fugue in G minor ("Great"), BWV 542, Prelude and Fugue in E minor ("Wedge"), BWV 548, Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553–560, Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564, Prelude (Toccata) and Fugue in E major, BWV 566, Fantasia ("Pièce d'Orgue") in G major, BWV 572, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", BWV 769, Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother, Concerto transcriptions, BWV 592–596 and 972–987, List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, List of fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach, List of concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_Suites_(Bach)&oldid=967278953, Articles with International Music Score Library Project links, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 12 July 2020, at 09:19.