J.S. Bach: Cello Suites Nos. 1-6

Featuring

Marko Ylönen
Johann Sebastian Bach

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Compositional Technique

The Bach cello suites can be analyzed through the lens of rhetoric, specifically using the concepts of dispositio (overall arrangement), elocutio (choice of words/figures), and actio (delivery).

Composer Biography

Before his active composing career, Johann Sebastian Bach studied Lutheran theology, logic, rhetoric, and Latin in Lüneburg in the early 18th century.

Album & Artwork

On this recording, Marko Ylönen plays the suites out of numerical order to emphasize their dialogue, creating an arc from the Passion-themed Fifth Suite to the Christmas-themed Sixth Suite.

Instruments

Marko Ylönen performs on a Bartolomeo Cristofori cello, an instrument dating from the 1720s.

Historical Context

Rhetoric, the art of using language persuasively, was a cornerstone of musical thinking in early 18th-century Germany, with figures like Johann Mattheson using terms like 'Klangrede' (musical oration).

Compositional Technique

Most dance movements in Bach's cello suites follow a four-phase rhetorical structure: narratio (stating facts), confirmatio (defending the statement), confutatio (disproving counterclaims), and conclusio (summary).

Interpretation

Cellist Marko Ylönen believes each Bach cello suite has a unique character based on its key and forms an unbroken overall arch, with movements offering different perspectives on a dominant affect.