J.S. Bach 6th Cello Suite transcribed for viola: Courante

[sssmay9]

this video is awesome! i don't play an instrument but I can tell when someone's good! can't stop listening to this!

[jackieisamonsterr]

Wow. See, us violas need more solos like this one...

We're so neglected. :P

[StringyStuff]

just had viola day at the university of south carolina. Beasty :D

[MyWinterFireflyLove1]

i heard this after a video that my teacher assigned me to watch and i definetly say that this is so much better even though i play the violin the violin is just so messy and complicated.

[dblivezalwayz]

BRAVO! BRAVO! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! BRAVO!

[Jcampbell19901]

I really enjoy watching your bowing arm. It is so fluid like.

[markbarsamian]

Very nice playing!

[ilovezuerich]

great!!!

[Kaatisu907]

As a Violist myself, I personally think the Viol d'amore is the best string instrument, but the Viola is a really amazing instrument too (:

[catiebear35]

how is she doing that with her bow?! :o

[MyZonezone]

@catiebear35 well, it's kind of simple if you practice alot, (but to me that's just amazing! :D) And all you do is just keeping bowing while you're switching your fingers. (notes) Sounds easy, but very tricky!

[iViolin1990]

@catiebear35 It's called legato :)

[chelseaEbaby]

The best thing ive played on my Viola is Shostakowitsch's 5th symphony in D minor. was a blast. went really. well. overall the viola is the best stringed instrument

[NinniSaladino80]

Very elegant!!! Congratulation!!!

[katiekatlovesu]

Hey, you also have a website for sheet music for strings, don't you? Haha, nice to see your videos on youtube. I also play viola and my name's Katie.

[RickyGibson]

great last note

[danldunham]

Ah, such rich tones, and elegant too. Bravo!

[MadPlagueRat]

oH GOD !

you're amazing !

do you have the sheets of this piece?

it's wonderful ! you play very very VERY beautiful !

[1985OldSkool]

I like everything about the viola. It's the best sounding musical instrument there is today. I'd like to see some more of your videos. I love the viola.

[Prettyflyboyanims]

@1985OldSkool because of your comment, i think youre my long lost best friend

[zip4096]

Fantastic!

[CycloneJosh]

Wow-- I think this is really very beautifully played. Her tone is mellow and pleasant, the intonation is solid, and everything's very well-articulated; she's very skilled with the bow. Very, very nice playing.

[kasztankap]

beautiful!!:):):)

[CosmicDamian]

Very elegant! Thanks very much for this, Kathy!

[AlexiFunkner]

If I would have played like this... I would get a bad mark for dancing... And we put more romantice in playing the Bach suites...

[Violascry]

WOW. You make it look so easy and yet I look at the notes and want to faint.

[hpept]

I'm speechless... excellent performance. I bought a 16" viola yesterday. Someday I will be as good as you... ;-)

[NIGELANGST]

Breathtaking...

[NIGELANGST]

Beautiful!

You and your music!

Thank you for sharing!

Peace and Love to You and Yours!

[profeso07]

5 stars

[eoipa]

where's the armweight?

[TwelfthRoot2]

haha eh as long as it sounds the way it's supposed. But it looks so limp!

[bootsarecool224]

XD i play but not as good

[zachdellinger]

interesting

[balligator]

i wanan play this piece now!

[AlamoCityCello]

This suite sounds best on viola. Bravo!

[GirlyRockstar2012]

i love the cello suites on cello, but for the viola, its spectacular, being a player myself, i cant wait to learn this one

[laresoldo39]

Good!!!Very Good!!!

[melvil6300]

I like it! very good.

I hope No3-1& No6-1& 6-6.

[unusualmusician]

Beautifully played. That one's a fun movement. Love those runs. Good luck!

[HIgginFlips]

Excellent! Not even one minor screech! Bravo bravo!

[gregnotias]

So wonderful to hear YOU play that piece. You understand it so well. And you hold the bow like specialty baroque player do it seems. I have never considered trying that.

[kittykittymeow260]

wow, i play the viola and you are OUTSTANDING!

[elgatosucio]

Pristine performance. Very sweet. Wanna hear more...

[pianoem93]

Wonderful! Very clear playing! :)

[Medguy83]

Amazing. Clarity, tone, control, all very good. I seem to prefer this transcription in G. The one in D major is in my opinion beyond the character of the instrument. Lovely sound.

[OLIMPUS911]

super!

[rroberts002]

bravo!

[Bingo1059]

Do you think you can do that with the cello suit 1? I wish, there is no way to convert cello suit 1 to be played by viola, Unless you can find a way i tried VERY hard on that!

[violatione]

Violists play all of the cello suites, they're a staple of the literature.

[ihrtmusic12334]

It is not hard at all because essentially the viola and cello are the same instrument, just different size and holding position. Same tuning. In fact, the only task to change music from one to the other is transcribing different staffs.

[smolinka1980]

nice.....from ''5'' u ve got 4. use ur tallant

[MysticFartingWorm]

such...a pretty NOISE!!! I WANT TO LICK YOU

[ahmedmashhour]

you couldn't be lovelier

[Rumozamonien]

Very beautiful. I have to work hard now!

[RedWasabii]

Nice sound. I always liked the viola. But a little more beat would make it much better.

[Violaplayer1984]

That was brilliant. well done!!!

I'm mastering this piece at the moment. Very nearly their now. It helps me watching other people who have it cracked, so i no what to aim for.

[brubratsche]

muito bom

a técnica é bem apropriada para musica barroca, usa bastante arco e não tem um som colado, a mão direita quase que centralizada equilibra bem o peso dele

muito bom

[Snobbstech777]

pretty good!

p.s. try not to go flat.

[Pacorrrr]

impresionante que sonido!! Violas somos pocos pero buenos .

[OLIMPUS911]

SUPER'

[disneyprincess222]

I play this piece too, but I'm only 12, so I don't play it nearly as beautifully, and I don't really like the piece itself, but you play it so nicely!

[Pughaa]

Very tasteful. Could be a little more gentle, not so forthright.. But intonation and phrasing are admirable!

[camposi]

I read on a Nigel Knhnedy´s CD. J.S.Bachs Instrument was not the organ (most ossiciatet toccata d minor and fuge) it was the viola!

[jaschenski]

I don't normally like solo Bach cello suites on viola but I found this fascinating

[tubaguyry]

You are aware that Bach wrote the "cello" suites for an instrument much smaller than the modern cello, right? The instrument for which he wrote these pieces was actually closer in size to the modern viola than to the modern cello.

[wcbroccoli]

Closer in size to the modern viola? I don't think so.

The cello is normally tuned an 8ve lower than a viola. Therefore, the string length of a cello must be almost double (allowing for heavier cello strings) that of a viola.

If you still think a Barqoue cello is similar in size to a modern viola, just look at the Baroque cellos, violas and violins in the numerous YouTube videos of period instrument performances of Baroque music.

Or just Google "Baroque cello" for pictures.

[sifakis123]

you are right about the baroque cello but there is an opinion that bach composed this suites for violoncello da spalla which is a very small cello with 5 strings that is played like the modern viola.check Sigiswald Kuikjen's recording 2008

[sifakis123]

by the way this music is awasome and you play really great.i wish i played like you.keep on posting kathy

[wcbroccoli]

There are other theories about these cello suites, e.g, (1) that at least some of them were originally written for (bass) viola da gamba. Or (2) that Bach's wife, Anna Magdalena, wrote them. Or (3) that Bach wrote them and she copied them for him but didn't know what she was doing when she put the slur marks in the score and Bach never got around to reviewing and correcting her copy.

Of these 3 theories, only the 1st is plausible. (Perhaps he wrote them for the Coethen court cellist Linigke.)

[wcbroccoli]

Other candidates are the violoncello piccolo and the viola pomposa, which, according to legend, Bach invented.

[wcbroccoli]

FYI, cellos from the early 1600s had strings lengths up to 80cm. -- bigger than the modern cello!

In the late 1600s, they started using wire-wound gut strings instead of plain gut string, making it possible to shorten the string length. In Bach's day, the string length of cellos ranged from about 69 cm to 80 cm. The size didn't get standardized until about 1750.

[GaleoDeus]

The Viola, being strung the same as the Cello (just one octave up) should not need a change of keys for transcription, just change of fingerings.

Question: why is this transcribed to G? Is there some functional reason? I'm curious.

[violabrain]

the first movement is especially not comfortable playing unison E's on the D and G. If you apply the same issues to the other movements, such as the bouree, you have chords in higher positions so theyre tougher to play..

[violaplayer1995]

i like the d major version better.

[pviola314]

I'll go ahead and counter that. This violist, and that viola seem to really fit with the G major one. Nobuko Imai pulls off the suite in D major really well but I'm not anyone should or could.

[Snobbstech777]

it sounds the same lol, its just a 5th lower and a sharp less.