Bach, J.S.: Cello Suites, BWV 1007-1012 Pierre Fournier

• 1 1. Prelude 02:49
• 2 2. Allemande 04:18
• 3 3. Courante 02:45
• 4 4. Sarabande 03:21
• 5 5. Menuet I-II 03:28
• 6 6. Gigue 02:15
• 7 1. Prelude 03:26
• 8 2. Allemande 03:26
• 9 3. Courante 02:06
• 10 4. Sarabande 04:19
• 11 5. Menuet I-II 03:17
• 12 6. Gigue 02:44
• 13 1. Prelude 03:43
• 14 2. Allemande 04:00
• 15 3. Courante 03:11
• 16 4. Sarabande 05:01
• 17 5. Bourree I-II 03:55
• 18 6. Gigue 03:26
• 19 1. Prelude 04:15
• 20 2. Allemande 04:32
• 21 3. Courante 03:46
• 22 4. Sarabande 05:08
• 23 5. Bourree I-II 05:07
• 24 6. Gigue 02:53
• 25 1. Prelude 07:00
• 26 2. Allemande 04:35
• 27 3. Courante 02:06
• 28 4. Sarabande 03:29
• 29 5. Gavotte I-II 05:05
• 30 6. Gigue 02:47
• 31 1. Prelude 05:01
• 32 2. Allemande 05:44
• 33 3. Courante 03:49
• 34 4. Sarabande 03:47
• 35 5. Gavotte I-II 04:39
• 36 6. Gigue 04:05
• Total Runtime 02:19:18

Info for Bach, J.S.: Cello Suites, BWV 1007-1012

In Colette’s famous phrase, Pierre Fournier “sings better than anything that sings”. Nowhere is this truer than in his iconic recordings of the six Bach suites. The suites were so much part of him that on the afternoon before a concert he was heard asking which of them he was playing that evening.

Basle Cathedral was packed on two Sunday evenings in the autumn of 1962 to hear Fournier play the complete set of Bach Suites. “One man and four stirings mesmerizing more than 2000 people … an indescribable palette of colours, or contrasts … an extraordinary demonstration of thought, of mastery, of style.” Few listeners to Fournier’s Bach performances have been able to forget them; the audience before the isolated figure high on the square platform in the nave of Basle Cathedral was no exception. In the hands of this half-sceptical believer whose vocabulary was so often religious (he called the Suites “the cellist’s breviary”), an epicurean whose work was ruthlessly self-disciplined, the Suites distilled Bach’s humanity and his indestructible faith, the sensuality and the spirituality fused in sound.” Angela Hughes, Pierre Fournier: Cellist in a Landscape with Figures (1998)

„Elegance is the quality in Pierre Fournier's playing that makes the first and, ultimately, the most lasting impression. He finds great depth in the suites, but he shows constant awareness that he is playing mostly dance music (usually, and importantly, French dance music), that joy is its most important underlying emotion and that graceful movement and rhythmic fluency are essential.“ (Joe McLellan)

Pierre Fournier, cello

Digitally remastered

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Booklet for Bach, J.S.: Cello Suites, BWV 1007-1012