Playing the Prelude of the 1st cello suite

I thought it was time for me to post a recording of myself playing part of the Bach cello suite, with all my rambling about it.

I still have quite a lot of work to do on this movement, which you all will undoubtedly realize when you listen to the recoding. Tempo is a little trickier on this one, the markings on this transcription are at 96 bpms which is pretty fast considering the piece is comprised of almost nothing but 16th notes. My teacher likes to take it a lot slower, possibly in the high 60’s. I myself can’t decide yet, although somewhere in the 80’s has it’s allure. Another tricky subject is dynamics and articulation (how short or long the sound rings on a note… for clarinet its weather you tongue the note, slur it, or whatnot). Bach never wrote such markings on his music. So scholars and musicians alike argue; some believe he wanted things very mechanical, while others feel that it was up to the musician to put them in and rely on styles of the time and some amount of common sense. The transcription I have by H. Voxman does have dynamic and articulation markings, some of which I am following, some not. The big question is should a go with staccato or legato for the tonged sections. Staccato is defined as short and detached, while legato is the opposite, smooth and connected – although not slurred, which lacks any re-articulation. I guess time will tell where I end up taking it, I’ll just have to listen to more people play the piece.

For now though, here is a recording of me playing the Prelude of the 1st cello suite.

~ by jake Gest on July 15, 2008.