Mstislav Rostropovich - Bach Cello Suite 1 V. Menuets

[MrPhilipcoyne]

yo dis shit is bangin

[MultiWingless]

My private cello teachers teachers teacher was Rostropovich

[jjjacqui]

OMG, I LOVE THE INTERNET. Imagine youngster cellists watching this! I feel he is fast but what stuns me is how little of the bow he uses for dynamics. It almost looks like he is a bit stiff but the dynamic range he gets from repeated centimetres is SCARY! I also just read a PhD thesis proving the Cello Suites were composed by Anna Magdalena, Bach's second wife. This explains how different they are to his other work! Opinions?

[chepurociel620]

@jjjacqui Honestly I don't think so. It's rather impossible that Anna Magdalena could be so wise and brilliant composer, judging of her possible responsibilities in Bach's house :) But i'm very curious about arguments of this thesis.

I think that cello suites are so special beacause of Bach's unique attitude to cello. He seemed to regard this instrument very important. Check out viola pomposa - i think he just tried to make cello more useful.

Sorry, I can't explain it in a good way in English.

[musikaNeues]

@jjjacqui lol

It's like people back in the 60s & 70s who said Shakespeare couldn't have written all his works, they are too vast, too discrete for one person to have written them. Or that Homer's poems couldn't possibly be the work of one person. Nonsense.

Unfortunately for such a thesis, Bach's hand is not only overwhelmingly evident throughout the suites, but there is an extant autograph manuscript of the 5th

Prelude, Fugue & Allegro bwv998 also had authorship question raised... and refuted

[RelinquishedJulius]

As I saw the views, what?! Why does this have only thirty-three thousand views?!

Then, I realized, this is not viewed--this is listened.

XD

[xbasket12x]

This is amazing

[MasaLuna96]

Dislikes?? -.-

[beethomozart]

its brilliant virtuosismo never attemps against its deep expresiveness, beautiful suites for cello from the giant of the baroque alone with Haendel

[jscamach]

i thinks that play fast is a nice style so the aundience enjoy it

[IncomCorporation]

Rostropovich tends to play everything faster than other people would as far as I can tell, it's a question of interpretation, if you want to hear it played slower listen to someone else and quit complaining.

BTW these weren't composed as dances, they simply use the structure of the dances, it's called menuet because after piece number hundred and something you'd get bored of coming up with names for them too.

[Hostoryproject]

He's not playing it too fast, I have the sheet music right in front of me and it says 104 and 112

[thelawya]

btw I am against those wolf weights on the afterlength...

[notionpollution]

What's wrong with the wolf weights?

[thelawya]

It's just a personal thing, you have to hear the difference for yourself... they're good in some ways, but I just am talking opinion of the sound. Science can even say it is destructive to the sound, which is it, but what matters more is how you like it. For instance, M.Rostropovich sounds good with one, usually amazing. They change the tone of the instrument, if you've heard one then you know what they can do. Maybe if you look closely you can find some who don't use them and compare.

[Elleira92]

These minuets are way too fast. you can't dance to something like this.

[notionpollution]

The tempo's supposed to be 80 but he's playing it around 110-113.

[brianbrian10]

there's not a tempo it HAS to be

its his interpretation the tempo he plays is fine because there is no accompaniment of dancers

[theanswer00]

what the hell are you saying? Minuet at 110? So why don't we play allegro at 160 lol

[Bmanzfly]

a minuet doesn't have any designated speed and it all depends how he is interpreting it.

[colinrb13]

If there are no dancers, minuets can be played faster.

[Yalissan]

1:20 to 1:40 so beautiful T_T

[Svaldifari]

I'm just learning Bach;'s Six Suites with my cello, and I've heard these recordings before (back when I had just purchased my first cello and thought "Wow, I'll NEVER BE THAT GOOD!"). Well, I still imagine I'll never come close to his abilities, but now I can more fully appreciate the soul of the music. The six suites are beautiful, especially these two menuets from suite I, and they're most certainly some of my favorite music. Rostropovich could certainly make the cello sing in a unique way.

[cellobaroquelove]

Good.

1.14: He played E as D.

[Fansis1993]

Callate

[sarsTOTHEmax]

ya he does it at 3:12 as well... it wasn't an accidenet... i prefer E!

[munkybrain]

and at two other points. never heard anyone play that before. is there evidence to suggest that's what bach originally wrote or is there another reason? i do kind of prefer it though

[RedWasabii]

Well the manuscript he is using is one of the best originals so it's possible Bach himself put it there.

[eldoctordeltac]

Well, I prefer E, but I'm watching the manuscript right now and I see clearly a D. Rostropovich wouldn't make a mistake :)

[shapterscello]

Nah I agree, theres no way Rostropovich would make a mistake... I think ill play it with the D from now on :D

[munkybrain]

so there are actually three Ds in a row on yours? What edition is it?

[munkybrain]

or two Ds, rather

[azntanan]

As a composer myself I would probably prefer an E. Having an E there completes the sequence and fulfills the expectation (registerally). But again, it's totally reasonable to argue that the D brings surprise. Secondly, I think the E is a very important dissonance (scale degree 6) that has to be resolved and it creates embellishment. Having a D would have no embellishment. Finally, I think the E natural in Minuet I foreshadows the Eb (flat VI) in Minuet II in the same register.

[krampusz]

@azntanan I totally agree E is better there, but this same piece has those funny natural signs, we really can't blame any editor who says there is a D instead of E.

I mean Bach was really precise and had detailed sheet music, but the guy copying his stuff can make mistakes.

[shapterscello]

Hmmm, E sounds better yeah, but I dunno... D sounds pretty nice... makes it all fit together... Hmmm, I wonder what strings Rostropovich used...

[shapterscello]

Yeah my edition has it written down as an E but it sounds nice when he plays a D.

[mbrsart]

Mine has that too. But I agree with you. It's a fresh thing to hear.

[notionpollution]

I like it either way, but the three editions I have are written as E, one is even a Russian edition.

[piratethekissingrain]

Thank you for putting this up. This really is absolutely beautiful.