Bach & Zimmermann: Cello Works

Featuring

Mischa Meyer
Johann Sebastian Bach
Bernd Alois Zimmermann

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Critical Reception

The Cello Suites were not always standard repertoire; Pablo Casals, a renowned cellist, discovered them as a 13-year-old in 1889 and was likely the first cellist to perform entire suites.

Compositional Technique

Zimmermann's Cello Sonata is based on a "pluralistic" compositional technique, which aims to create a higher unity and simultaneity of past, present, and future within the music.

Recording & Production

Mischa Meyer plays a violoncello made by Robert König in 2012 for this recording.

Performer Biography

Mischa Meyer, the performer on this album, is the principal cellist of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and won first prize at the German Music Competition in 2007.

Compositional Technique

The formal structure of Bach's Cello Suites is based on a consistent sequence of dance movements, with contrasting pairs like Allemande-Courante and Sarabande-Gigue at their core.

Composition History

Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites were likely composed around 1720 in Köthen, where he served as princely Kapellmeister.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Bernd Alois Zimmermann, the composer of the Cello Sonata, described himself as a "very Rhenish mixture of monk and Dionysus" and aimed to realize a philosophical claim in his work.