The first is the string crossings being clean. If you are at a beginner stage of learning cello, there will be a few difficult things about this piece. It is not easy to cross strings elegantly, to have the sense of time and phrasing to bring it to life.īut it is also a very rewarding piece to work on, which continually gives back pleasure to play through all the harmony changes. Mastering the movement – though the notes are not too hard – is deceptively difficult. The meditative nature, sultry middle, and triumphant ending have made this piece stand out as one of the foremost classical compositions of all time, for any instrument.
The second half is a series of scales that lead to a hocket buildup with drones of A and D – the chords that lead back to G major for the final resolution. The first part is a repeating rhythmic and slur pattern that moves through different chords and harmonies.
The prelude itself can be thought of as split in two parts. The first suite is in G major – all of the movements are in G.
As a result, they are all through-composed (no repeating sections or refrains). The prelude is meant to feel improvisatory, like an introduction to the dance movements to follow. Only the last one is still performed today (jig). In the case of the first suite, the other dances are called Bouree, Courante, Sarabande, Minuet, and Gigue. A suite means a collection of dance pieces. The suites themselves consist of six movements each. Especially given that the six suites get progressively more challenging, a topical analysis might be to see it that way.īut there is so much musical depth in the suites, and such amazing use of implied multiple voices and harmonies though it is played on just one instrument, that when eventually vitalized by one of the greatest cellists ever, Pablo Casals, they became a staple of the cello repertoire, with many cellists being “Bach specialists” meaning studying the performance of the six suites. The Bach Cello Suites were originally not considered so great, more like etudes or technical studies for cello. While this is not typical cello pedagogy technique (he started this piece before even scales!) the method of learning in chunking is definitely the right approach for this amazing piece.