Valentin Erben, the cellist on this album, was a founding member of the Alban Berg Quartet, which he belonged to for its entire 38-year existence.
Interpretation
The album features a unique juxtaposition of Bach's cello suites, where polyphony is 'simulated' on a monophonic cello, with the natural polyphony of the organ chorales.
Instruments
The violoncello used for this recording was a Giovanni Francesco Celoniato instrument from Turin, circa 1725, on loan from Marcel Richters.
Recording & Production
This recording was made in the Marienkapelle, a side chapel of the collegiate church of St. Florian in Upper Austria, with the organ chorales recorded on the famous Bruckner organ.
Compositional Technique
The cantus firmus of Bach's 'death chorale' Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit contains numerical symbolism: 14 notes for B-A-C-H and 41 notes for J-S-B-A-C-H.
Composer Biography
J.S. Bach's very last work, the 'death chorale' Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit, was dictated to his son-in-law ten days before his death when he was blind.
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