Bach, J S: Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV1007

Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses, a member of the Beaux Arts Trio and a frequent collaborator of the world’s greatest conductors and orchestras, takes a solo turn with the most noble of works for his instrument, J S Bach’s Six Cello Suites.

A consummate master of his instrument, Antonio started playing the cello when he was 10 years old. At the age of 16 his musical studies took him to Europe, and in 1982 he won the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, among others, with such conductors as Karajan, Abbado, Rostropovich, Muti and Chailly. In the recording studio he famously collaborated with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (with Anne-Sophie Mutter), and Strauss’ Don Quixote.

Playing a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaumme cello from Paris c.1840, Antonio’s renditions of Bach’s seminal works are marked by purity and grace, introspection and sophistication.

Andrew Maginley cuts a striking figure in the placid world of lute playing. He towers well over six feet, even without his height-enhancing cowboy boots. Often leather-clad, his curly black locks loosely frame a complexion that conveys his Afro-Caribbean, Celtic and Native American ancestry. Andrew focuses primarily on repertoire for the D minor baroque lute which benefited from contributions by the three composers on this CD. The centrepiece is the magnificent D minor Sonata by Sylvius Leopold Weiss, who was a friend of J S Bach, whose First Cello Suite Maginley has masterfully transcribed. Finishing the CD is a delightful rococo F major Sonata by their slightly younger contemporary Adam Falckenhagen. Andrew previously appeared on Avie as director of period-instrument ensemble The Frolick on Calliope: English Songbooks of the 1700s, with contralto Emma Curtis (AV 2102).