Bach Cello Suite No.1 Prelude G Major BWV 1007. Georg Mertens Australia

[sgfmify]

this song is fantastic... we return to our classical culture

[SnakeJones11]

I love this song and think you are amazing i hope to play the cello like that one day and hope to be a pro in no time!

[khangphan00]

I remember one TV commerical that has that song in it.

[wafflelover52]

how does this have ANY dislikes!?!?

[CreamDry]

Well, its another interpretation but, it was fine.

[peteacher52]

Great to hear a different take on a well-known piece of music. All interpretations are valid because Bach forgot to leave us metronome settings! lol

[ciciramz]

I wish there was a button that would automatically replay this song instead of always having to click the replay button which I find, I am doing a lot lately. Very beautiful. :)

[xiiimerow]

I have always been fascinated with the cello. I never got the chance to learn because I was always moving. That is why I take such joy in listening to pieces such as this. So thank you for providing such wonderful music that I can enjoy.

[Crystilwyn]

I LOVE how you slowed the tempo. I love this song in a much less adagio like tempo. For me personally one cannot truly enjoy this song unless it's slightly more legato and not so choppy. I love this!! Thank you for posting!! <3

[RobertoJunior87]

dá até vontade de chorar quando escuto isso.....

[georgcello]

Hi all, Many of you will be used to the bowing starting with 8 slurred. I just uploaded the Prelude in G with this bowing (as "video response"). Certainly not original, it certainly sounds smoother. Tell me what you think - keep enjoying cello music. regards, Georg

[djmob007]

Wonderful, really enjoyed your playing!

[panxocreed]

you'r a genius!! D:

[alaric415]

superb!

[LiveStrong350]

Listening to this just brings tears to my eyes.. It is so beautiful.

[Cellolife97]

This is one of the most beautiful interpretations of this piece I have ever heard! I love how you don't rush through it as many other cellists do

[apaiged]

beautifull.......

[apaiged]

I'm a cellist, it's quite exciting!!! anyway less talk about me....

[Vandababa93]

Gyönyörű! Tökéletes! Perfect!

[Christherpiper]

I would just like to clarify, you said that the B in measure 23 is correct? My apologies as this is probably something you've been asked many times as its a point of contention between me and my teacher.

Thanks Chris.

[georgcello]

@Christherpiper, Yes (it is actually bar 26), there was a mistake in the first printed edition c 1824, who printed a Bb. ALL manuscripts of the 18th century wrote B. Cellists got used to play Bb published in the common editions of Dotzauer, Becker and even the former Baerenreiter/Wenzinger; they either didn't question it or liked it more. You can see the print of manuscripts on my sheetmusic website and click on the "see the manuscripts" button (I just added a link in the youtube text above) G.

[Anything716anything]

This is absolutely amazing. You are the man.

[Mestena87]

The phrasing in this piece is superb. I like this rendition much better than DuPre's, Rostropovich's, Yo Yo Ma's, and Casals' versions of the same. This video also inspired much praise from two very serious classical musicians with whom I shared it; one a cellist/classical vocalist, and the other a violinist who is auditioning for the Paris Philharmonic. I am a cellist in training, so it is of unending value to me to have videos such as this to study phrasing and technique. Thank you, sir!

[stormcloud7999]

absolutely beautiful thank you for sharing :)

[MMAenthusiastUHHE]

My ears just orgasmed

[kittyanime7]

Hey you play really well I actually am going to take cello lessons next semester in college

[screeemingatawall]

Fantastic playing.

[PatTheStalker]

Quick Question, you said you played on a Baroque cello, but it doesn't look like you're playing with a Baroque bow, why is that?

[georgcello]

@PatTheStalker. You are right, I play a modern bow. I play an old cello not because I am a Baroque fanatic, but because I like the instrument. What is today in general portrayed as "Baroque" I find certainly wrong. Bach had reputedly a remarkable feeling for rhythm and structure - but just these two elements are missing in "modern Baroque" imitations. I rather think, the modern imitations are born at a time, when Romantic just got out of fashion - so they turned Baroque romantic!

[sofiawing]

I play saxophone...i always wanted to learn cello or violin, but i'm so used to put my fingers straight for playing saxo that it makes it more hard than i though :(

[crazyelyxoxo098]

this is my favorite piece by Bach. awesome job 

[iassenzahariev]

Good on you, mate!

[Jonas96forev]

I just have to say that I love the Cello and I have always wanted to take lessons and I always dreamed of learning on how to play this piece of beautiful music and right now You have made me happy by playing it thank you :)

[lilZoned]

I have been studying this piece for the last 4 months I can play the song ok but you make each phrase sound more beautiful then the last. I feel that i need to work on my fingering, every time i play this song my hand is in so much pain during and after. Do you have any tips on the pain in my hand?

[georgcello]

Hi @lilZoned, It is virtually impossible to give tips without witnessing you playing. Best take at least one lesson from a professional orchestra player, who has to play several hours a day. You surely do something wrong. Cello playing should not hurt anywhere.

In general, if the right hand hurts, you probably push the thumb to hard. In the left hand you may push all fingers too hard, watch that the wrist is always straight. But best, play for some one.

[oliverleehornbake]

@lilZoned I agree. Granted this is coming from someone who has not touched their cello is almost six months, but for one exercise you can do to help this problem and try removing your left thumb from the neck all together. Do this and force yourself to relax your whole left hand. Let your thumb hang out behind the neck, but do not use it to apply pressure with your other fingers. You will not play good music as you do this, but it is a drill that will help you relax your left hand. Just try it.

[kaavest]

@lilZoned I remember when starting playing violin at 12 i got pain in my hand ,but after 18 years old. I started swimming and swim crawl and so on hard 4 times a week. Play theese after worc and have 6 of them out in my account in the tube. Espesially in the prelude you can listen my fingers smashing down on the instrument ,i mean thats from the swimming :) To learn theese pieces time is the key, dont rush and say, i must learn it in two mounts. Just take the time and have fun in them :)

[say3you3wont]

a few weeks ago when it was thunderstorming out at like midnight i played this and it felt totally surreal with all the thunder and lighting and the darkness... it was amazing!

[jdole41]

Oh I got the cello, just haven't had time to practice..

[S7VIIN]

I love this piece, and the clothes :)

[007Theeddie]

There's this thing with classical music...sometimes it is played far from what the original piece was. I hate that. I'm always searching for the original version for every one of the songs I like, in this search is that I found your videos, u do try to play the original right?

Thanks for posting this kind of stuff.

[georgcello]

The original manuscript of this piece hasn't been found. So I put all available sources of the time side by side and studied also the real originals of Bach's violin works. This is the closest you could come up with by comparing everything for years and consider all the possibilities.G.

[Lity10]

@007Theeddie O'rly? Maybe if you would shut the fuck up and post your own response to this "SONG" so we could hear the right tempo and dynamics? You clearly don't know anything about classical music, and stop trolling. This man is really great, I doubt you could do any better.

Very nice (-;

[007Theeddie]

@Lity10 I was just asking if he tries to play the original or not, some musicians prefer to speed up a piece or change some notes.

He already answered the question, why do you bother writing this for me?

Fuck off, fagott

[Lity10]

@007Theeddie OFC, fool

[GIFPES]

@007Theeddie Only Bach himself could stand for the so called original version. That is the beauty of classicals, no one knows the original sound, yet, everyone can play, better or worse than others.

[JadeInBlack777]

you are very talented!

[Iarethedunecat]

I've only been playing cello for about two and a half years, but I'm better than most who have been playing for just as long as I have. I've been practicing this piece for about a week but I can't get through the part where it alternates from the D to the A without messing up >.<

[gravew0lf]

anyone ever notice how the people who are realy good at instruments or math look borderline insane? this guy.. newton...etc.

[xUselessThoughts]

@gravew0lf

Intelligence begets insanity. Also depression, but you didn't mention that.

[MustafaGitar]

Thank you for sharing your interpretation, I enjoyed it a lot! Check my guitar rendition on my page!

[cordasdivinas]

Its very very good. Good sound, good speed, realy you can feel the melody of the music. Congragulations.

[onixtheone]

this is one of my fav melodies ever if only i could learn it on guitar

[Tubatoofpaste]

Well done, Georg

[nrubdarb]

Unlike many of the videos out there, this is actually an interpretation rather than merely a performance. Beautiful, beautiful playing.

[MegaFather123]

I've been playing Cello for 3 years, and I just got this piece about a month ago, but I still don't understand how to play it. I have been playing it in first position throughout the piece, and now I see your shifting. How do you know where to shift?

[AlyBeez]

This sounds like Little Bear :) !

[P14N157cat]

@AlyBeez

That's funny, that's what I always think of when I hear this piece. Was it used in Little Bear? :D

[dj12120]

too slow I think.

[feydust]

Nice... Is this a baroque cello? it seems so.

[georgcello]

@feydust

It is a Baroque cello, the bass bar is still the original one from pre 1800. I need to play this cello lighter than others, but it's beautiful, I love it (you can see a close up in the Erh Hu improvisation).

[mariahsworld17]

By dear Go-shh ! your amazing i hope some day I'll be just as wonderful as you are music is my PASSION ! thank you for inspiring me ! this is AMAZING !

[irondawson]

I enjoyed this version very much.....

[Spashley13]

Délicieux.

[Metroidguy94]

DAAAAAMN...this guy is one of the few that I've heard play this in G Major and still be in tune! I"ve looked up a few others, and they all CLAIM to play it in G Major, but they're playing it in a completely different key...not this guy, though! Bravo!

[TheJade16]

You play it so well

[solou4]

genial! my favorite!

[exploitedk]

Bravo!

[ghostgirl54701]

Very beautiful song! I love to play that song on my cello

[DuoContinuo]

An interesting and individual version - this is how I like this prelude - everyone can make his own work with Bach...listen to the Theorbo version by Pascal Montheilet too

[ThePunisher1978]

good job

[Columbianbacon]

Heh. First I heard in in Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. Then I heard it in Hitman: Blood Money. Perhaps a more unconventional method of discovering this piece, but it captured me from the moment I heard it.

[Ayalachan]

true:D

[subrock86]

absolutely breathtaking.

[Nyahchan1]

I've always wanted to learn the violin or cello, but at least i know how to play the piano

[pligana]

awesome! I love it!!!!!!

[jdole41]

This is the reason that I wanted to play cello

[ninetiesrule]

@jdole41 ha i was totally gonna get a cello and start lessons when i heard this piece years ago :)

[skyd171]

@jdole41 me too, and i bought one. 2-3 hours of practice per day.

[peoplescrews]

absolutely brillient!!

[Slixnixxay]

This is a beautiful song to play on the cello!!

[robbe8889]

this song was made for the cello and the cello was made for the song

just love it ! awesome played !

[pressyboy]

I love the timbre of your instrument, sir!

[MrTableturns]

this is a very butieful peice of music in fact i made a kitten fall asleep to it (it was so cute!)

[mortalsparkimetalic]

Esta chisisima la canción

[Napoleon3535]

Beautifull instrument, hoping to learn to play some day this song and the Cello :)

[awesomewelles90]

This is a lovely piece. I prefer Yo Yo Ma though.

[dazorz123]

ultra perfect...omg tears in eyes ;)

[lovesGenet]

these cello suites are played on violin? Wellwe already have six violin sonatas adn 6english and 6french suites for keyboard andGodowsky transcr these cello

(all of them) for piano.

But on Violin.Well,I liked to hear them on violin.too high is my thinking.butr Bach himself was always transposing he would have loved Tausig and Busoni .and yes he sold pianofortes even if he didnt own( as every1 should know by now).He always played at his masters' homes so he wouldnt need to own one.

[MarshmallowJumminess]

Anyone knows where i can get his song notes ??I want to play it on my cello too ^__^(sorry if i said something weird , i'm not good at english -___-)

[Babsx129]

Try 8notes. com. Just search "Cello" And "free Cello Music".. It should be there.

[ipolit123]

I think, it is not a variation, it is the Thinkink of Bach.

[ipolit123]

It is olmost like Pablo Casals, maybe better. It is more natural and near to the original, than the play of the "great" ones of Cello olay, like Rostropovich.

[cereberus4756]

this was on the new episode of house! I think.......

[UrbanAnarchist44]

it was. season 6 episode 1: Broken

[sijas]

who else cried when she started playing it?

[bluemonolith88]

no, but i thought it was a guy with long hair.

[sijas]

oh lol i was replying to a guy that said this was the same piece they played in the first episode of house in season 6.

[IdiotViolinist]

It doesn't sound this great on violin

Makes me want to study cello too...

[Jaqualine10]

CAN I KNOW WHERE TO DOWNLOAD

[mannycabrito]

hmmmm. not very even, sounds sometimes like a dotted rhythm. you can take liberty, but bach is mostly about rhythm.

[tom44c]

mannycabrito, your idea about Bach and rhythm is a bit too simple. In a suite of course the dance movements are rhythmical, but the Prelude is freer. Many of Bach's contemporaries wrote Preludes even without bar lines.

[emmasspace]

This is totally used on Battlestar Galactica! But I can't find the name of the track, and that annoys me.

[kroaal]

Very interesting variation... I like it a lot, it indeed sounds very Bach. My most sincere admiration for this performer, and if this is really the way in which Bach would have liked to have it played, double kudos for him!

[soulfire139]

nice bow hold : D

i like the variation

[MevrouwSluitspier]

The most beautiful version of Bach's prelude in G I have ever heard! Wirklich fabelhaft gespielt.

[ThatOneViolist]

I'm a viola student, just starting this piece.. I can't find a recording or video of a professional viola performance, anyone know of one? This is great though.. it helps (just an octave lower). Gotta love Bach ;)

[BLNTBRGSFLBYMCLN]

You'll find an example here on youtube it self just key in:

Bach : cello suite number 1 mvts. 1(for viola)

Good bye and good luck.

[ssstar4ever]

just notice, you hold your bow quite perpendicular...very good as rossicus1 said.

[TheHotrodf100]

This is different than every other rendition of this piece that I have ever heard, with the possible exception of Pablo Casals.

I am studying this music myself and am interested in learning all I can about it as a cello student.

[georgcello]

TheHodrod, after all my research this is the closest to the original I could figure out. To learn more about it I recommend to study the early facsimiles published by Baerenreiter / Schwemer (which includes an excellent resource of Baroque performance practice), plus the bowings and markings in Bach's originals of the violin Sontas & Partitas published by IMC / Galamian. The conclusions are a lifetime work, never ending changes, never boring!

[leonkennedy74]

This is absolutely incredible. Something about the way you play it just makes goosebumps run up and down my arms.

[MrNewmaneh]

wow so awesome great job. i'm currently learning the song on electric bass, but it sounds much better on cello!!

[BobbyMez09]

is this song difficult?

[georgcello]

Hi, For the left hand this piece is quite easy, you just need the first 4 positions and play in tune. For the bow I imagine this piece always even more perfect than I last played it, a never ending process.

Anyway, with some talent you should get the notes after a few years of playing cello with good practice.

[unusualmusician]

Beautiful!

[jonobonnowonno1]

that was beautiful, i prefer this to the original, has a lot warmer sound

[thehellsyeah123]

fantasic job:)

[angelinrachel]

This is so great, awesome, superb, i love it very much. this is the best of the best. i never heard a solo cello performance this good. great performance Georg-sama

[whodathurdler05]

beautiful...

[thegarrettmw]

Hi everyone i was wondering if you guys knew some good pieces for electric guitar that are semi fast tempo and kinda dark sounding not to light. I am learning neo classical and classical thanks and btw i wish my guitar was a synth so i could sound like a violin lol. Good job though!

[mortson978]

Why didn't you use baroque tuning? You were obviously striving for originality.

[georgcello]

The answer is simple. In this particular concert I played only two movements of the first suite, all other pieces were with piano. As I don't play steal strings, where you can retune just by using fine tuners, retuning means usually ending up with an unsettled intonation. I often performed with Baroque tuning and recommend it to everyone. Most cellos sound a lot warmer in the lower tuning. - G.M.

[mortson978]

i see, you didn't want to re-tune the whole damn piano. I can understand that, four strings is a lot easier than one hundred and sixty some odd strings in the piano.

You obviously know your stuff. So what do you tune concert A, in baroque tuning? In modern tuning, it's 440 hz, so do you drop it a whole semitone, or not quite a semitone?

[georgcello]

I performed a lot with Baroque recorders (like the Handel Sonata I recorded on the CD 'Sounds of Timber), who supply you with the Baroque pitch. To my surprise it was more than a semitone lower, lets say 2/3 of a tone.

[mortson978]

wow.

[angelinrachel]

great really that's great, when i get upset i play this tune , it feels like music raining from heaven georg-sama

[georgcello]

The word song actually goes back in all Indoeuropean languages to the word 'swan' (sanskrit svan). I heard a swan singing and he could only sing in natural harmonics - the major 7 chord following with the major scale! The early makers of language decided, they 'do the swan' when they sung, hummed and played according to the major scale, c 20 000 years ago.

So Mendelssohn was correct to call pieces: songs without words.

Music song was first, words came second. Existing music was named. - G.M.

[nutellalove16]

look a song doesn't have to have lyrics a peice of music and a song are the same thing, just as inspiring, sometimes you must listen and not look to whether it has a good dance beat, prelude is a classical piece, and it sounds amazing :D

[Aidref]

Hmmm,well true that, sorry for being a dick! This is quite possibly one of the most gorgeous piece(song) I've ever heard

[Aidref]

@ Anime Lover,

this is not a SONG it's a PIECE of music, songs have lyrics

[1rstrombone]

they don't have to

[Laila93]

Not necessarily. A song is music and this is music so it could be called a song. What you refer to it as doesn't matter, it's all the same beautiful notes :)

[666AnimeLover]

this is my favorite song!!!

[Apalexpe]

Primero que todo aunque Rostropovich sea uno de mi violoncellistas favoritos, lamentablemente no es conocido por su interpretacion de las suites de Bach. Cada quien tiene una manera diferente de ver las cosas. En mi opinion el Bach de Paul Tortelier es el mejor sin embargo no dejo de dar credito a distintas interpretaciones. : )

[georgcello]

Por qué no, antes usted hace comentarios acerca de música Barroca, consiguiendo un encendió un pedacito diminuto para saber de ello. El metrónomo fue inventado después del período barroco.

[sacopelota]

jajajaja ¿y quien dice q no se puede cambiar el tempo?. ¡por dios hombre! la musica se trata de expresion. no miremos tanto el aspecto tecnico, y menos aun teorisemos todo lo que escuchamos. por mi parte digo q lo hizo muy bien, sencillamente se expreso

[tyr12345yurty]

Aqui hay un punto interesante de discusion el de si hacer de estas suites una pieza para interpretar o si hacerlas una pieza para bailar (que de hecho es para lo que fueron creadas). El cellista debe buscar una interpretacion propia. De hecho muchos critican a los cellistas que se expresan demasiado en las suites, pero realmente todo es valido por que como bien dices es expresion.

[Cutie1079]

ThoSE taKe CenTUries To PraCTice THose SOnDs...Go CEllO!!

[LlamaHayley]

This is really good. -Nod nod.- My first cello lesson is tomorrow. Ha I'm such a noob. But this is like superly good. Keep up the good work?o_o; or something like that.

[MissNose]

Beautiful.

[vaxshin]

I absolutely love hearing this solo