Pablo Casals – Bach: The Six Cello Suites (1946/2012) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

At a tender age, renowned cellist Pablo Casals was introduced to Bach’s legendary Cello Suites. The musician studied the pieces for several years before performing it publically. An extraordinary exploration, the remastered album highlights Casals’ spontaneity, detailed execution and meaningful appreciation. A definitive set to these historic works.

Pablo Casals recorded J.S. Bach’s 6 Cello Suites for EMI between 1936 and 1939 in London and Paris, and these legendary recordings have been in print for many decades without break. There is a mystique attached to these performances that overrides any minor defects of reproduction, and students of these works repeatedly turn to this cellist, who essentially rescued the suites from the tedium of the practice room and presented them to the world as fully fledged works of invention and virtuosity. Casals’ freedom of phrasing and playfulness with rhythm make the music feel spontaneous and often intensely lyrical, and the quality of interpretation approaches recitative, insofar as Bach’s lines at times receive an almost vocal expression. Since Casals’ day, the Cello Suites have been played in many ways, including efforts to play them in an authentic Baroque manner, as well as more Romantic attempts at individual expression, but Casals still seems to be the standard against which other performances are measured, and these recordings are indispensable to any serious collector. While the reproduction is extraordinarily clear in these digitally remastered recordings, there remain patches of noise and a thinning of tone that seems to be the result of removing analog hiss. Even so, this is still a phenomenal set compared to other recordings made in the 1930s, and the value of the music trumps any roughness or weakness of sound.

Tracklist:
01 – Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007: Prelude (Moderato)
02 – Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007: Allemande (Molto moderato)
03 – Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007: Courante (Allegro non troppo)
04 – Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007: Sarabande (Lento)
05 – Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007: Menuett I & II (Allegro moderato)
06 – Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007: Gigue (Vivace)
07 – Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: Preludium
08 – Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: Allemande
09 – Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: Courante
10 – Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: Sarabande
11 – Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: Menuett I & II
12 – Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: Gigue
13 – Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: Preludium
14 – Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: Allemande
15 – Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: Courante
16 – Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: Sarbande
17 – Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: Bourrees I & II
18 – Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009: Gigue
19 – Suite No. 4 in E Flat Major, BWV 1010: Prelude (allegro maestoso)
20 – Suite No. 4 in E Flat Major, BWV 1010: Allemande (Allegro moderato)
21 – Suite No. 4 in E Flat Major, BWV 1010: Courante (Allegro non troppo)
22 – Suite No. 4 in E Flat Major, BWV 1010: Sarabande (Lento)
23 – Suite No. 4 in E Flat Major, BWV 1010: Bourree I & II
24 – Suite No. 4 in E Flat Major, BWV 1010: Gigue (Vivace)
25 – Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: Prelude (Adagio – Allegro moderato)
26 – Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: Allemande (Molto moderato)
27 – Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: Courante (Allegro non troppo)
28 – Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: Sarabande (Lento)
29 – Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: Gavotte I & II
30 – Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011: Gigue (Allegretto)
31 – Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: Prelude (Allegro moderato)
32 – Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: Allemande (Quasi adagio)
33 – Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: Courante (Allegro non troppo)
34 – Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: Sarabande (Lento)
35 – Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: Gavotte I & II (Allegro moderato)
36 – Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: Gigue (Vivace)

About the Mastering
Four engineers at Abbey Road Studios in London have remastered these historic EMI recordings from their original analogue sources for release in pristine hi-def. Between them, Simon Gibson, Ian Jones, Andy Walter and Allan Ramsay have many years of experience remastering archive recordings for EMI and other record labels. The process always starts with finding all of the records and tapes in EMI’s archive in London and comparing different sources and any previous CD reissues. We consult each recording’s job file, which contains notes about the recording made by the engineer and producer. For example, this sometimes explain why there is more than one set of tapes to choose from. All of the tapes are generally in good condition and we play them on our Studer A80 π inch tape machine, after careful calibration of its replay characteristics.
In order to have the best digital remastering tools at our disposal for the remastering, we transfer from analogue to the digital domain at 96 KHz and 24-bit resolution using a Prism ADA-8 converter and capture the audio to our SADiE Digital Audio Workstation.

Download:

BachJ.S.TheSixCellSuitesPablCasals19469624.part1.rar
BachJ.S.TheSixCellSuitesPablCasals19469624.part2.rar

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