Customer Reviews

Bach: Suites for Solo Cello; Sonatas in G & D Major

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Bach gave us the catechism for piano (the Well-Tempered Clavier), the violin (the solo partitas and sonatas) and the cello (these suites). Nothing is so subtly satisfying as these masterpieces. Starker is one of those extremely gifted and unaffected musicians of the generation who flourished in the 1950's and '60's (and in some cases, since), like Richter, Oistrakh and Milstein. They are the most sublime interpreters, marrying emotional authenticity and technical achievement to give us recordings that have set the standard for decades to come. We are lucky Starker is still with us. (I also recommend his intimate, charming and quirky book, "The World of Music According to Starker," which comes with a CD featuring Starker playing a delicious recital of Beethoven, Brahms, and others. The book includes, inter alia, a chapter discussing his career from the viewpoint of his stomach.) Starker's reading of the Bach cello suites here is delightful and edifying. While Casals is in a class by himself, I would take Starker over any other. His approach is lyrical and makes these pieces sound almost like lieder. They are full of yearning, joy, pensiveness - and yet none of the interpretation is overwrought: true to his generation he is unpretentious and genuine. The sound on the Hybrid SACDs is excellent and very warm, as others have commented. This set is eminently worth the price.

This must be a top choice under any terms- Starker's sense of lyricism in these suites (and sonatas, too!) stands with the finest recordings of these pieces, ever. Fournier has wonderful qualities, and indeed most musicians and recording aficionados that I have spoken with would likely term his the recording to own if there would be only one in a collection. Tortelier also puts forth one of the top cycles on EMI (GROC series) and has much to offer- and there are many other notables: Ma, Mork, and of course, Casals- but take a listen to any of the samples on this page and you'll see that Starker's sense of line, rhythm, and dance equals the best and far surpasses the rest.

There are two masterings of these CDs available, and I have heard and read poor reviews of the sound on the regular CD mastering, but these SACDs (I play them through a regular CD player) sound wonderfully warm- absolutely no sound complaints here.

I heard Starker at The Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, many years ago. Listening to this recording of the Bach Unaccompanied Suites was like sitting in the first row; it is phenomenal. BUT, you must have a CD player with an SA-CD mode. I started to listen to it in the standard CD mode, and it did sound very metallic. Note: This was also pointed out by a reviewer of SA-CD recording of Balalaika Favorites also. I switched to the SA-CD mode and VOILA, the sound exploded into the most glorious sound possible.

This two-SACD set contains SACD three-channel stereo, SACD stereo, and CD stereo (I auditioned only the last) versions of Starker's famous renditions of the Bach Suites and a couple of Sonatas. There are many recordings of the suites available from many estimable artists, but this one is a version that would no doubt make its way into many a music lover's top two or three versions. Starker brings a great feeling of dignity to the music, and you get the sense that this is the work of a mature musician who in not trying to make an impression, but who is trying to present these works in the best possible light as masterpieces of music.

Although this in not music that many of us (with the exception of you cellists) will listen to often, this is music that many of us will want to always have in our collections. If this is indeed music that you want to have in your collection, and if you are something of an audiophile, then by all means this is the version you will want to have in your collection. It is a treasure.

Sadly, this set is now out of print (SACD 3-channel).

If you can locate a copy, and the price does not scare you off, by all means, take the plunge...it's worth every penny!

As many may know, I am a great lover of Bach's Cello Suites (see my Guide to the Cello Suites under my profile) and have a great many recordings of these six wonderful works. Like the Well-Tempered Clavier, they are cornerstones of the world of great music, and rightly so.

Starker recorded this set back in the days of Mercury's "Living Presence" series, and recorded them again, on RCA, and I seem to recall another set, but fail to find it here on Amazon. The latter ones do not replace these early traversals in my book...they are more studied, but somehow do not move me the same as these earlier recordings.

The SACD remastering is simply wonderful (as a great many of the old Mercury/Philips remasterings are) and show the love and care lavished upon them by the technicians who do this type of work for our pleasure today. You will probably not notice a lot of difference when played as a regular cd (on regular equipment) except that the clarity and warmth are better than a regular cd edition. But...played back on proper SACD equipment, you will be amazed by the clarity, and the presence, of these recordings....Starker is THERE...right in the room with you! The subtle nuances, fingerings, etc., are right there...floating within the confines of your listening space, in what cannot be described other than "real, 3-D sound"....you expect to hear Starker drawing breath, or hear the movement of his feet as he plays!

I have a really sensitive ear, and listen on high-end equipment nearly every day for extended periods of time, and have listened to a great many recordings in SACD technology, from brand new DDD ones back to old AAD and ADD ones that have been remastered again for SACD, like this one....it SHINES like it never has before, and those who know this set of recordings know just how wonderful they always were. This is a worthy acquisition for your collection if you love the Cello Suites, Janos Starker, and are already familiar with him and these works, or if you are coming to them for the first time....I am a great audiophile, and I would not give up this set over any other renditions of these works from my collection...YES, this set is THAT good. It is so wonderful when some new new technology comes along, and something wonderful from the distant past gets new life breathed into it and it gets a rebirth and a second and third generation get to know works like this, discovering them as we did all those many years ago in today's improved sound...even for us it is breathtaking to "hear them all anew" again, as we were never able to hear them before!

I am not sure what the reissue chances for this set are, and I know that Pentatone releases a lot of the old Philips recordings...perhaps there might be another reissue from them, or perhaps there may be another series of pressings from Mercury/Philips/Universal in the future..... In the meantime, if you see a copy of this, and you love the Cello Suites, and Janos Starker, by all means do not fear to spend the money to obtain a copy...it is worth owning! (the regular CD set is still available Bach: Six Suites; Sonatas in G major & D major ).

~operabruin