Bach Cello Suite #2 in D minor: Prelude - Matthew Cohen, Viola

The Prelude to J.S. Bach's Suite #2 in D minor for Solo Cello, BWV 1008, performed on viola by Matthew Cohen at the Cleveland Institute of Music's Mixon Recital Hall.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• bach
• cello
• violoncello
• viola
• johann
• sebastian
• suite
• no.
• no
• minor
• prelude

[Sashka07]

did you write the ornamentation at the end? Never heard it done like that and it sounds great!

[mattriarch]

@Sashka07 It is definitely not an uncommon practice for people to play some sort of ornamentation or improvisatory figures based on the harmony of the chords there; it is generally considered that, in Bach's time, these chords would have been an invitation to the player to improvise a final cadence to the movement based on the given harmony of the chords. As there is no written record of any such closing cadenza, people generally either forgo this option and play the chords as they are written

[mattriarch]

@Sashka07 (which in my opinion sounds rather stale; the amount of time it takes to hold each chord in the tempo of the movement requires such a slow bow speed that there is often very little room for expression and leads to a rather choked sound) or play some sort of previously written improvisatory passage. I drew inspiration from Tabea Zimmermann's absolutely incredible recording of this suite (on the album Tabea Zimmermann Solo), where she simply plays a scale down from the top note of each

[mattriarch]

@Sashka07 chord leading to the next chord; I took this idea which I liked a lot and then embellished it. So, your final answer is that the final product of the ornamentation at the end is my own, but I started with what someone else did. Really glad you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting!

[lispectorando]

amazing. congratulations, you're great!

[cleo928h]

gorgeous!!