Bach: Six Suites; Sonatas in G major & D major

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Janos Starker (Performer), György Sebök (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Janos Starker, György Sebök
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (November 8, 1991)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Mercury
• ASIN: B0000057L9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,373 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Apparently, no music could be simpler than these suites, composed for a single, unaccompanied instrument, and each made up of a prelude followed by a series of stylized Baroque dances: allemande, courante, saraband, minuet, bourré/e or gavotte, and gigue. Yet each suite, each movement has a striking individuality and each cellist makes the series his own. It is totally objective music and, at the same time, intensely personal. János Starker's view is spare, ascetic, technically flawless, suggesting much more than it says, like a fine line drawing by an old master painter. --Joe McLellan

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent - But buy the 2004 SACD release, January 7, 2005

By 

music fan "music fan" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bach: Six Suites; Sonatas in G major & D major (Audio CD)

Janos Starker has recorded the Bach cello suites five times, and when asked why he has made so many, he said it was because each time he signed with a new record company, they wanted him to do another set(!) His honest, no-nonsense personality shows through in his Bach performances as well. Some claim his approach is too dry and unemotional, but after many years of listening to and playing these suites, his clarity and sense of structure keep me engaged long after I've grown tired of more visceral, "romantic" approaches. Many say this is his best set, but if you chose it, avoid at all costs the CD for sale here and buy the hybrid SACD/CD released in 2004, also available on amazon.com, even though it costs more. The reviewers below (and others) have found this CD to have been recorded a full tone sharp (ugh!). I don't know about that since I don't have it, but the 2004 SACD/CD sounds right on pitch to me.

51 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars superb Starker, rotten remastering, March 13, 2000

By 

Thomas Shoebotham (Bay Area CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bach: Six Suites; Sonatas in G major & D major (Audio CD)

These performances of the Bach Suites were wonderful on LP. Unfortunately, whoever was in charge of making the transfer of these recordings on to CD botched horribly and made the entire set sound a half step sharp. For those of us who have listened to and played these works for years, hearing this (eg. Suite No. 1 in G-sharp major!) is most disconcerting.

I was so shocked when I first put the CD on I had to run to a friend's house, who still had the LPs, just to see if I had somehow remembered the original sound wrong. No, the LPs were fine, Suite No. 1 is in G major and so on.

Starker's new set, on RCA, is wonderful, so perhaps it doesn't matter, but it is still distressing to hear this happen. Why? Why? Why?

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Epochal performance, poor remastering, December 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Bach: Six Suites; Sonatas in G major & D major (Audio CD)

The reviewer below expresses it best. Starker's Mercury set of the suites is, for most cellists, the gold standard. Technically speaking, they are flawless. Artistically speaking there is laser-beam musical understanding that arcs the entire recording. The later RCA recording is even deeper in understanding, but Starker's Bach is akin to Gould's in this regard: you want both the earlier and the later -- they are both that great.

What a shame then that shoddy remastering has put these disks into the realm of the unlistenable. Anyone who is intimate with these pieces will notice immediately (as the prior reviewer did) that they are sharp. It is so distracting that I cannot bear to put the disk in the player. A next to criminal moment in the rush to cash in on the LP to CD bonanza!

Performance: 5+ Stars; remastering: 0 Stars.